


Decadence

by ChronosAbyss



Series: Mercy [2]
Category: Transformers: Prime
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Redemption
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-17 14:47:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 34,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28850817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChronosAbyss/pseuds/ChronosAbyss
Summary: Starscream has instated himself as leader of the Decepticons while the Autobots deal with the aftermath of their attempt to take down Megatron. With the chain of command shaky on both ends, it's up to those remaining to pull their teams together to work past hurt feelings and decide what goals are still worth pursuing. (Rated T for mild violence.) Story will be updated once a week until completed.
Series: Mercy [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2003950
Comments: 29
Kudos: 45





	1. Repose

**Author's Note:**

> Decadence: A process, condition, or period of deterioration or decline, as in morals or art; decay.
> 
> This is the sequel to my other fic 'Mercy'. It's recommended to read that one first, but it shouldn't be too hard to pick up here if you really want to.
> 
> I'm very excited to finally post this! I started writing this shortly after I finished 'Mercy' in 2013 but after only three chapters it went on hiatus in 2015 due to lack of direction. I finally picked it back up in early 2020 with the burning desire to rework and finish what I started, and here we are at long last! Thanks for stopping by!

"Status report?"

"Same old, same old. A full diagnostic of the ship is still in the works, but I have Breakdown running a complete structural survey as we speak. So far there are a couple of holes here and there, but nothing that needs immediate attention."

"And the crew?"

"Although Breakdown is back on his feet, I advised him against any strenuous activity for the next few solar cycles. Soundwave is still absent from the ship, and several troopers found Airachnid immobilized in a back hallway. I had her placed with the others that met a similar fate." Knockout brought up a quick list of numbers on his data-pad. "I've taken a brief stock of the Vehicon soldiers and it seems that while there were 46 injured and 38 frozen, only seven were beyond repair," he announced, eyeing the numbers.

Starscream raised an eyebrow. "That's good?"

"You trust my professional opinion don't you?"

Starscream scoffed. "Apparently it's why I keep you around."

"Then considering the damage we get on a weekly basis from the Autobots on the ground, we're golden."

"Right," Starscream said, unimpressed. "Have you had a chance to examine Optimus Prime's condition in cell block three?"

"With the exception of minor battle damage, he seems relatively healthy. You know, aside from being a living doorstop."

"How’s the crew taking Megatron's sudden absence?"

The medic let out an uncertain tone, glancing sideways for a moment. "Eeh, morale could be better. You've got your typical post battle unease. Word's spread of Megatron's demise, but no one's really sure what happened."

"Good. Let's keep it that way," Starscream finished, starting to turn away.

Knockout sidestepped around to get in front of him. "Starscream-" Seeing the dirty glare his commander shot him, he hastily corrected himself. " _ Lord _ Starscream. The whole ship's on edge. Everyone's talking. The more astute bots have even drawn attention to the fact that the Autobots somehow managed to gain access to our ship while it was cloaked, something that I need not remind you should be nigh impossible."

Starscream narrowed his optics almost threateningly. "It was the scout. Most likely he was using a concealed means of communication to contact the Autobots while he was on board. A tragic oversight, I admit, but nothing more. I've been meaning to gather the troops together to address the recent change in command. I’ll make it a point to bring up at the assembly. Is that all?"

Knockout hesitated, wary for once at the possibility of pushing Starscream too far when he was already testy. Eventually his curiosity won out. "There is one other thing I wanted to ask you about. At this point most of the ship has been combed over by the casualty crew to gather the downed soldiers for repairs. While there are a few isolated machine levels and storage corners that still haven't been checked, there has still been no sign of our former Lord Megatron's body."

A brief flash of alarm flitted across Starscream's faceplate which he quickly masked with a more neutral expression. "Do you really think I would have left the corpse out where any common soldier could see?"

"Alright then. Where did you have it moved?"

"Well um," Starscream stalled, a bit taken aback. "That's classified information."

Knockout sighed, shaking his head. "Really Starscream? If you didn't want me privy to such mundane details you shouldn't have made me second in command. How am I to make sure your ship is running ship-shape if I don't even know where our liege's body is stowed? The crew is asking whether or not there is going to be a commemoration in his honor."

"A commemoration?" Starscream choked.

"An observance, a memorial, whatever you want to call it," he gestured casually. "It's been nearly a full cycle and someone had to bring it up."

Starscream turned away, processor churning to come up with a reasonable explanation as he brought up several digits to tap agitatedly at the side of his faceplate. "Tell the crew that his body is too desecrated to be shown. Our liege suffered horrific damage at the hands of the Autobots. He would not have wanted to be seen like that," he finally said, wearing a mixed expression of both sorrow and unease.

"Fine, but that still leaves the matter of its location," Knockout said in a matter of fact. “As the ship’s chief medical officer, I’d like to perform an autopsy.”

"I told you, that's classified." Starscream crossed his arms childishly.

"So what, you're just going to keep Megatron's rusting chassis in your closet?" He held up his servos defensively. "Look, I'm not one to judge, but there are certain health regulations that must be observed when dealing with the disposal and recycling of the deceased."

"A-are you insinuating that I am keeping the whereabouts of our former Lord's body a secret out of some sort of sick fascination?"

"I'm only saying that whatever your reasons are, it would be nice to know a roundabout area so I at least know where I should be avoiding."

Starscream sputtered for a moment in an effort to formulate a retort. Failing to come to any sort of solid reprimand, he reached out and grabbed Knockout roughly by the lower jaw. "Why you-"

The sound of the door opening made both mechs freeze mid struggle. They looked over to see a dark slender figure standing just inside the doorway, observing them quietly.

"S- soundwave!" Starscream released his grip on Knockout's face, leaving the medic to shoot him an ugly glare as he rubbed a servo on the affronted area. "What a… nice surprise," he continued through a forced smile, his optic ridges drawn up in a twinge of anxiety. "Where have you been?"

Soundwave didn't move from his position, drawing a steady digit up to point out the large bridge viewport.

Starscream's gaze followed the length of Soundwave's arm to the Earth they were now in orbit around. "Aha, right. Well I'm glad you managed to make it back."

Soundwave merely stared at him.

"I'm sure you must be wondering why no one was operating the ground bridge controls. While you were out, there was a slight gap in security and the little yellow scout that Megatron allowed on board managed to let the rest of his team on as well. I sincerely regret to inform you that as a result of the ensuing battle, our beloved leader Megatron is no more."

He paused, searching for a reaction out of Soundwave. A downturned head, a shifting of weight, anything that would betray the slightest hint of remorse. Only a blank faceplate looked back at him, empty as ever.

Feeling his spark stutter, he rambled on, trying to avoid the chilling stare. "I'm sure this must come as a tremendous shock to you, but the mourning process has to wait. The battle has left the ship in dire need of repairs. So if you could return to your post…" He trailed off. For some reason Starscream couldn't bring himself to issue that last statement as more than a suggestion.

Soundwave stood motionless for what seemed like forever before he finally nodded and walked from the room. Only when he was gone did Starscream realize that he had been holding in his last cycle of air and he let it out in a rush.

From somewhere behind him he heard Knockout utter a note of agreement. "Yeesh, you said it."

* * *

In one of the outer halls of the Nemesis, Breakdown shuffled his way down the corridor, relieved to finally be released from his second visit to the med bay in the past three days. Naturally Knockout had objected to discharging him so soon, but Breakdown had insisted despite the lingering pain in his right leg. Anything to get free and clear of the examination table. The only catch was that now he was stuck logging the damages that had accrued around the ship. It could be worse.

The place didn't look half bad all things considered. Most of the damage was merely cosmetic. Random blaster marks in the walls that, while ugly to look at, weren't hurting anything. There were a few areas that were clearly the sites of the more intense battles. The hallway that he now entered had bits of charred metal and spattered fluid littering the ground, although any fallen bodies had been cleaned up in an earlier sweep.

He started on the left wall, marking down any damages he came across until a light sound on his blind side drew his attention. The mech turned his head to see a dark form crouched off to his right.

"Oh, Soundwave. Sorry, I didn't see you there," he apologized, backpedaling several steps upon realizing that he had almost bumped into the communications officer.

Soundwave glanced at him briefly from his position near the ground. As usual, any further conversation went unsaid and he returned his attention to the floor, trailing a long digit along a series of scratches on the metal tiles that lay in front of a nearby exit port.

Breakdown edged around him, careful not to disturb the occupied ‘con and found a spot several paces further down the hall to continue his survey of the area. There was a lot of damage here, and the two worked in silence for a while. Halfway through Breakdown's examination, Soundwave rose to his feet and strode off the way he had come without a second glance.

That was… odd. It wasn't the norm to see Soundwave in this sector of the ship. Maybe there was some sort of damage to the com wires here. Breakdown made a note to have that checked out later.

He finished up his report and continued on to the next area… another hallway. Slag, why were there so many empty hallways in this place? They certainly didn't have enough bots to warrant needing this much space. A relic of days long gone he guessed, when there were actually enough Cybertronians left alive to call it a war. It was basically just skirmishes now. Isolated groups of five to ten bots squabbling over something or another...

Something caught his eye in a shadowy corner, disrupting his train of thought. Curiosity piqued, Breakdown reached down causing him to grit his teeth against the tight pain along one of his sore back struts. His digits found the smooth handle of the object and brought it up to optic level.

"The Polarity Gauntlet?" He turned over the device in his servo, hardly believing its presence in such an unlikely place. The last he saw of the relic was when it went home with the Autobots after Airachnid showed up to ‘help’ him grab it. It must have been brought on board when they infiltrated the place.

However it came to be here, it would probably be best if he gave it to Starscream...  _ Lord  _ Starscream. Breakdown ran the name through his head a few times to ingrain it into his processor. The seeker was picky about titles and he didn't feel like getting on his bad side, especially after Breakdown had so blatantly opted to turn him over to Megatron rather than pay back his rescue from Mech. He still felt a little bad about that.

On the other hand, it was more than a little suspicious what happened the other day. The Autobots just happen to get on board after Starscream arrives, only for him to conveniently snag Megatron's title? The crew was buzzing about it, behind closed doors of course. He’d heard an argument just a few hours ago between several Vehicons as they sorted through bits of scrap and debris. One of them swore they’d been there when Starscream had confronted Optimus Prime for killing Megatron. It described how the Autobots had cowed before Lord Starscream’s passionate declaration to continue Megatron’s vision, while the other had seemed more than a little skeptical of the whole affair.

Honestly, Breakdown didn't really care whether Megatron was in charge or not so long as he and Knockout still had a place onboard. If Starscream could keep everyone satisfied, then he had no issue with him.

Breakdown looked at the relic once more and hesitated. He didn’t make it a habit to keep secrets, but something made him want to take some time to think things over. Call him paranoid. He pocketed the device in his subspace compartment and continued on his way. He could always give the thing to Starscream later.

* * *

"Let's see here, ship records; speed, location, altitude…" Starscream muttered to himself, navigating through the information banks on a computer console. "Just input the time stamp and…" His digit hovered over the command key as he threw a furtive glance over his shoulder. The room was empty save for where Knockout stood conversing with a Vehicon near one of the command modules.

Starscream turned back to his screen, hyper aware of the conversation that was taking place behind him, but not registering any of its content. His input was correct, at least as far as he could recall. With it, he could hopefully bring up the ship's logs for the approximate coordinates of the event. Knockout was right in one regard, he needed to locate and secure Megatron's body. He wouldn't make the same mistake twice in assuming the despot’s demise.

He fidgeted, staring at the screen for another second before turning to face the pair behind him. "Do you mind? I have important business to attend to. Knockout, I trust you can oversee the repairs elsewhere while I'm otherwise engaged?"

Knockout stopped short with an irked expression. "Hmph, sure," he said offhandedly. "It's not like I have a million other things to do anyway."

"And take that one with you," Starscream gestured to the Vehicon before returning to his search once he was sure the other two were beginning to leave, finally bringing himself to hit enter.

As soon as the command was logged however, a sound resonated from the consol. Laughter; nervous and maniacal. Rising in volume as it echoed through the ship's primary loudspeaker system.

"What the frag?" Starscream mused before realizing with a start that the laughter was his own.

Knockout and the Vehicon fell to a halt just inside the door, tuning their audio receptors to listen to what now sounded like Megatron's voice.  _ "Not only are you a traitor, but a fool! Returning here truly was your worst mistake." _

Starscream's optics widened and he scrambled with the console in an effort to clear whatever it was that was triggering the recording. A large message box spread across the screen in response to his inputs. [[Command Rejected]]

A pulsing whirr sounded through the sound system, followed by a resounding crash. " _ Oh how the mighty have fallen, Megatron! Let me live? If only you could see yourself to appreciate how the tables have turned!" _

The lights flickered above them.

_ "I'd be crazy to let you remain on  _ my _ ship, functional or otherwise." _ There was a brief silence followed by what sounded like metal being dragged across the floor. Then the screeches ended abruptly, leaving only the recorded sound of wind until the audio was cut off, followed closely by the lights, plunging them into darkness. 

More unsettling however was the deep murmur that ran through the darkness as every computer and terminal that surrounded them powered down as well, and from the deep bowels of the ship came a slow shudder followed by eerie silence as the ever present engines whirred to a halt. Indiscernible shouts could be heard in the distance as bots floundered to figure out what had happened.

Seconds passed and by the time Starscream’s optical sensors could adjust to the limited starlight that shone through the great viewport, the lights and machines hummed back to life around him, albeit much dimmer than before.

The Vehicon next to Knockout was the first to speak, raising a servo tentatively. "Lord Starscream, does this mean that you- Grk!" A blast hit its chest and it fell to the ground.

Starscream drew his blaster back into his forearm, grim fury spreading across his faceplate.

"Does this mean that  _ you _ were the one that scrapped Megatron?" Knockout walked forward, stepping over the body of the fallen Vehicon.

"Shh! Keep your voice down." Starscream whispered fiercely, shooting a frantic glance around the empty bridge.

Knockout rolled his optics. "Because that  _ didn't _ just broadcast throughout the entire ship."

Starscream cursed inwardly. Of course this would happen.  _ Of course. _ All he asked was for one plan to go without a hitch. Just  _ one simple thing _ . But no, the universe hates Starscream. Primus forbid he should be  _ happy _ for once.

The seeker let out a tight growl, wings drawing up in frustration. With a huff, he strode over to the dimmed communications panel, angrily pushing a digit down on the com button.

"This is Lord Starscream. Can anyone tell me what the frag just happened?" He waited impatiently for a response.

"So tell me again what you did with the body?"

Starscream jumped at Knockout's sudden presence at his side, his dark optics eyeing him with a sort of self-assured curiosity. The seeker spun to face him. " _ He's not on the ship. _ " he hissed, leaning in close.

Knockout’s features scrunched a bit as he adopted his associate's harsh-whisper, leaning in closer. " _ What do you mean, not on the ship? Do you mean to say that the Autobots-" _

Starscream clenched his jaw in frustration. " _ No, I mean I disposed of him! Gone. Frozen. Earthbound! _ "

_ "Earthbound- You mean you just shot him and pushed him off the ship? By far, that is the dumbest thi- And why are we whispering?  _ Every bot on this ship now knows exactly what you did!"

"What they heard is irrelevant. There is no proof! The Autobots killed Megatron in their push to take the Nemesis. Anyone who believes otherwise is a malcontent intent on spreading lies and dissent among the crew," Starscream finished with a steely stare, as if daring Knockout to disagree.

After a moment Starscream spun back to the communication console, beating a fist on the keypad. "Slag it! Is anyone there?" He scowled at the silence that followed and addressed his second in command once more.

"Is there anything else you'd like to add to that story, Doctor?" he added menacingly.

"No, not really," Knockout shrugged with an ill-fit casualness. "The Autobots killed Megatron. Too bad. It would have been a great achievement if you had been the one to take him offline as part of your grand plan of succession."

Starscream felt his faceplate twitch in irritation and he had half a mind to smack the red mech. Before he could determine whether or not it would be equitable to do so, there was the sound of an engine approaching the main door, followed by the squeal of braking tires. The doors swept open with a wheeze and a Vehicon trooper stumbled through unceremoniously, clearly having just driven a substantial distance very quickly.

It stood in a hasty salute. "Sirs, I apologize for the lack of communication, but the com systems are down."

"What? What's going on down there?" Starscream demanded.

"We don't know my liege. There was a- uh… that broadcast, followed by an energy surge that shut down the main power core. The ship's dead in space. Backup engines are running to keep it in stable orbit, but our main power and all communications are down."

"Blast, where's Soundwave?"

"There have been several reports that he was seen departing through the Ground Bridge less than half a cycle before the power surge."

"Of course," Starscream muttered. He should have known that Megatron's most loyal subject would be behind such an act of sabotage. "Have someone get me the coordinates of his destination."

"I'm afraid that that's impossible. The bridge data has been scrambled and the backup generators aren't powerful enough to run the device even if we did get it up and running."

Starscream cursed himself that he didn't have someone tailing the communications mech the moment he returned to the ship. As it was now, he would just have to add Soundwave and his actions to his growing list of things gone wrong.

"Spread the word that there will be a mandatory debrief in one solar hour. I want everyone present."

* * *

Word of mouth worked quite effectively it seemed, given the time. An hour later had every bot available standing on the lower level, from soldiers to miners and those well enough to make it out of the med bay. Above them Starscream walked slowly with his servos clasped behind his back, pacing back and forth along the second story platform that made up the command portion of the bridge. Only Knockout stood behind him, standing idle near the exit port of the room with his arms crossed.

_ Primus, I am really not in the mood for this.  _ Starscream thought, letting his gaze wander across the crowd, noting the profuse amount of hushed conversation that was taking place despite his presence on stage. For some reason he couldn't bring himself to get as worked up over it as he would usually. All he really wanted was to get this over with. It was strange really. Normally he would have enjoyed this kind of thing; to be given the chance to address his troops after a particularly daring coup. Regardless, he found his attention wandering even as his voice rose over the crowd.

"Decepticons, if you could direct your attention. While I'm sure most of you have a general idea of the events that occurred yesterday, I have been made aware that some important facts may have been skewed along the grapevine. Thus, clarification is necessary to secure order in these difficult times."

He stopped pacing to face his audience. "First and most importantly; Megatron is dead," he stated simply.

Doing his best to mask his grimace at the fresh wave of murmurs that flowed through the mass below, he continued. "It is regrettable that such a strong and inspirational leader has passed, but do not despair, for this does not mark the end of the Decepticons."

His optics panned across the sea of nearly identical faceplates and easily picked out Breakdown's rust colored face. It was clear by the way he held himself that the only reason he was here was through obligation. The thought crossed Starscream’s mind that perhaps he should have also included Knockout's partner with them on the second floor seeing as he was the only other commander currently active. Slag, he was short staffed.

"Megatron was dedicated no doubt; but in the past several centuries he had grown increasingly delusional, grasping at powers beyond his reach. Though it pains me to admit, I do believe his time had come to join the Well of Allsparks. He was a visionary for his time, but every era must come to an end."

A voice called out from among the crowd. "Is it true then, that you were the one who put Megatron offline?"

"Who said that?" Starscream stalked closer to the edge in order to search out the offending person. A shuffling of Vehicons made it clear who had spoken as several bodies pressed away from the one who stood with its faceplate upturned to the stage.

Starscream's mouth drew into a thin frown. "I suppose you're drawing your conclusions based on the audio clip that was fed through the ship's intercoms," he stared down at the mech, annoyed that it didn't so much as flinch.

He continued. "If you wish to believe that I am the one responsible for our former lord's demise, then go right ahead. It makes no difference how he perished, and I will not waste my breath trying to justify my rightful succession as Megatron's second in command."

"Wasn't that title given to Airachnid in your absence? How are we to trust what you say when there are no witnesses?" The Vehicon took a step forward as the others around him seemed torn between being intrigued by the current events, or whether to disassociate themselves from their outspoken comrade as much as possible.

_ Oh, fantastic. This is exactly how I wanted to start off my leadership, talked back to by one of my lowest ranking soldiers. _

"Airachnid is currently out of commission due to the latest battle with the Autobots. As such, my centuries of experience with serving directly under Megatron's leadership make me by far the best suited for continuing the legacy that he left behind. 'Peace through Tyranny', Megatron once proclaimed. And now that we don't have to suffer the weight of his personal vendetta against Optimus Prime, we can move forward with renewing his original vision of conquest."

"So, we're supposed to blindly follow you, the one who  _ may-or-may-not _ have killed our long-time leader?" the soldier spoke up again, calling out the overall ambiguity of what was said.

Starscream rolled his optics with a sigh, casually taking out the Immobilizer from where he had it tucked away. Enough was enough. He didn't have to put up with this folly.

Below him, the soldier was really starting to go at it, now motioning to encourage those around him. "I propose it's time for a new order; a collective group run by its individual components! Never again will the underdogs be treated like mere scrap! What we need is-"

A beam of energy passed over him and the rising revolutionary froze in mid-gesture, one servo still reached to the sky in a passionate appeal. Starscream harrumphed, his mouth twisted in an irritated frown as he holstered his device.

"Memorial service for Megatron will commence after the ship is fully operational, and not a day sooner," he announced brusquely. "Until then, get to it." He stalked from the room, brushing past Knockout on his way out.

The red mech looked after him with bewilderment, then out to the rest of the room which was now buzzing with confusion. Down below, several Vehicons were straining to see over the heads of their brethren to get a view of what became of the one who had been speaking out. Those who had been standing near the victim however, recoiled as if afraid that whatever had afflicted them would settle into their own joints. “So much for putting the troops at ease…” Knockout muttered.

Knockout turned to leave, intent on discreetly following Starscream's cue when he felt a hundred pairs of optics fix upon him for closure. He swiveled back to address the crowd cursing Starscream for making him clean up his mess. "You heard him, back to your tasks." He made a shooing motion as if to sweep them from the room. "You guys have some sort of internal chain of command right?"

"Well, typically the second in command coordinates our duties." One of them offered up.

Knockout's shoulders drooped a bit. "Right… As the second in command," he stalled, making up something on the spot. "Ah, continue working on whatever needs to be done. I hear Starscream wants his ship fixed. That's a good place to start," he pronounced winningly. "If there are any questions; designate a select few among you to see me in my office and we'll work something out."

A wave of confusion swelled up again and Knockout gave up on his original plan of a graceful exit and made a brisk dash for the door, calling out before it slid shut behind him. "Oh, and someone transfer our newest doorstop to the holding bay with the others!"


	2. Upkeep

The atmosphere was gloomy as the four remaining Autobots gathered in the main room of their base. Bumblebee looked at Ratchet, then Arcee, both of whom looked down at the floor rather than return eye contact. Finally Bulkhead broke the silence, impervious to the wordless exchange that lay between his teammates.

"I can't believe he's really gone," he lamented for what seemed like the tenth time.

"He's not gone," Arcee snapped half-heartedly. "He's just…"

"Captured, by the Decepticons." Ratchet finished darkly where she trailed off. "He may as well be offline."

Bumblebee gave a quick series of protesting tones.

Bulkhead nodded in agreement. "Right, it might not be that bad. Arcee said that he was just immobilized, right? So there's a chance that he’s just stuck in some holding cell."

"In the possession of Starscream," the medic reiterated. "Not only that, but our safe haven is now compromised. For all we know, the Decepticons could be watching our location at this very moment." 

The team fell into an uncomfortable silence.

"If that miserable piece of scrap does anything to Optimus..." Arcee clenched her servos, drawing them up for a moment before letting them fall limp to her sides. "I wish I'd never brought him back to base," she finished regretfully.

"You didn't know what would happen. None of us did," Ratchet responded quickly.

"How could we not? This is Starscream we're talking about! We gave him an opening and he jammed the knife in. I can't decide which is worse; the fact that he turned on us, or that we trusted him in the first place."

"Hey, it's not like we expected everything to be hunky-dory,” Bulkhead interjected. “We all knew the risks and honestly, I'm surprised it went as good as it did." The others stared at him incredulously and Arcee huffed, looking like it was all she could do to withhold her commentary.

"Okay, so maybe 'good' isn't the right word," he amended. "But for a while it seemed like he was adjusting, you know? As far as we could tell-"

"That's the point! We knew his history. We shouldn't have even given him the chance to impress us. He was at our mercy, we should have-"

Ratchet interjected harshly. "We should have what? Gotten the information we needed and killed him? Marched him outside to fire a shot through the back of his processor?"

Arcee's gaze dropped, her eyes searching the floor as her mind was sent back to the moment where she had the opportunity to do just that. Her features fell into frustrated defeat.

"It's easy to look back and think about what we should have done," Ratchet's voice was softer now, but still managed to carry the weight of his statement. "But there's no use dwelling on it. We didn't stumble into this blindly. Yes, there were risks, yet we agreed that the reward was greater. Did it work out? No, but it's done. Our best course now is to plan our next action." His words settled heavily across them.

"So, what now?" Bulkhead asked, at a loss.

"We should look for-" Arcee and Ratchet spoke simultaneously, “Optimus,” Arcee finished, while Ratchet spoke his piece; “Megatron. _”_

Bumblebee beeped incredulously at Ratchet, to which Bulkhead reiterated, "Megatron? He’s history isn’t he? Why on Earth would we need to find him?"

"You want to take Starscream's word for it?" the medic pointed out. "You said that none of you actually witnessed him perish. The last thing we need is old enemies making unexpected comebacks."

"We barely have enough resources to sustain our standard missions." Arcee argued. "What good will scouring the globe for Megatron do for us? You said it yourself, what if Optimus is in trouble?"

"I agree with Arcee." Bulkhead said before hastily waving his hands apologetically in Ratchet's direction. "Not to say that your idea is bad or anything. Just, if it were one of us trapped on board the Decepticon warship, Optimus would do anything to get us back first and foremost. Let Megatron rust for a while. The team comes first."

"And how do you propose we get there? We're facing the same predicament as before. Without an inside signal or a direct visual confirmation, we have no means of obtaining the coordinates necessary for a ground bridge," Ratchet explained with as much patience as he could muster. "At least in regards to locating Megatron's body we would have the luxury of using our entry and exit ground bridge coordinates as a starting point. Plus, if we find it, it might give us new leverage by which to gain access to Optimus."

"Right..." Arcee agreed reluctantly. 

"Either way we'll need to contact Agent Fowler to see about moving to a new location. He needs to know what happened. Bulkhead, will you take care of that?" Ratchet asked. The green mech nodded. "Bumblebee, I want you to start taking stock of our supplies. We'll need a detailed record of what we have to determine what needs to be prioritized." Bumblebee let out a sighing tone but agreed as well, trudging off to begin the decidedly more tedious task.

Watching the other two depart, Arcee approached Ratchet. “I’d like to be in charge of making sure we have a plan for retrieving Optimus from the Depecticon warship in case we do get a shot at it. I refuse to be caught unprepared.”

Ratchet hesitated. "Arcee, are you sure you're up to this? I don't want everything that's happened recently influencing your decisions. I know you had grown somewhat close to Starscream after the incident with Airachnid..."

Arcee stiffened. "I don't know where you got that idea from, but if you fear that I might sympathize with him, you needn't be concerned. My only objective is to get Optimus back. Starscream won't get away with what he's done, I assure you," she said with steely conviction. "We made the mistake of underestimating him once; that won't happen again."

* * *

"Alright, bring it a bit more to the left. No no, the _other_ left. I swear… Just position him next to that storage container. At the very least I can use him as a holding rack for my instruments."

The triad of Vehicons shuffled over to where Knockout had indicated and set down their cargo: their fellow soldier who had spoken out during the assembly the day prior. Starscream had insisted that the offending Vehicon be set aside from the other immobilized troops as an example to those who got the wrong idea about his leadership. As it were, the figure continued to gesture passionately with one servo outstretched. A perfect framework, Knockout thought, for organizing his oft tangled medical tools.

With their mission complete, the trio practically ran out the door, anxious to get away from the doctor before any more tasks were assigned during their falsely named ‘break period’. Knockout sighed and slumped onto one of the examination berths near the back of the med bay, next to the little corner he had designated as a sort of makeshift office space. The stillness of the room practically sung in his audio receptors after the recent mountain of post-battle repairs. Only a few of the less fortunate soldiers remained hooked up to energy drips off to one side, laying in deep recharge.

The silence was short lived however, before the doors swooshed open once again.

"Knockout!" came a shrill voice, "Why aren't you tending to the repair teams?"

"Not now, Starscream. I just sat down…" he complained wearily, rubbing a digit over his right optic ridge.

"Then I'm to assume that you finished taking stock of the damages?"

"That, along with assigning tasks to the maintenance drones, _and_ finishing repairs on the last of the battle damaged troops." Knockout ticked off on his fingers as he leaned back, his optics shuttering tiredly.

"Oh… good," Starscream said, his tone breaking a bit in surprise. He took a moment to run an eye over his subordinate, noticing some smudges of grease smeared on the front of his chassis along with a few spatters of dried energon; a rare sight for the vain medic.

Starscream cleared his throat. "Well, take a short recharge. You look like scrap. Your next assignment then is to gather a team of engineers to get to work on whatever damaged components that are inhibiting the ship's mobility. Find the problem and fix it."

The medic opened his eyes again, his expression clearly irritated. "Fix it?" he repeated with an added edge. He directed his gaze back at Starscream, but still remained seated. "The communications array is _dead_. The long-range, short-range transmitters, the ship- The ship itself won't even respond to new orders! We're stuck in orbit until we figure out how to restore command inputs."

Starscream crossed his arms impatiently. "Well, how long will that take?"

Knockout gave an exasperated sigh. "The Pit if I know. Soundwave was in charge of stuff like that. I know even less about how this place works than you do! At the rate we're running, Autobots will sprout wings to fly up and meet us before we figure this out!"

"And I suppose you'd be content to wait around for such an improbable event?" Starscream derided.

"Do you know how much I hate space? A lot. Stuck out in the middle of nowhere in this _can_ is not my idea of fun," Knockout argued sourly.

"You can count that as an added incentive then. Getting the ship up and running is our top priority."

"So why aren’t you helping? You had a brief stint as a scientist way back on Cybertron didn't you? Granted it's not the same as engine mechanics, but you could at least look into what's going on. You’ve been absent all day."

Starscream stood up a bit straighter, looking down at his second in command. "Well, as commander of this vessel, I hardly think it would be becoming of me to partake in such menial tasks. Besides, I have very important matters to attend to."

"Right," Knockout replied, not at all convinced. After all, just moments ago he had made it very clear that nothing took precedent over the ship repairs. "Busy or not, if you want this thing to ever fly again, you'd best lend a servo. There're only a handful of workers who know anything about engineering, and you can't expect mere drones to figure out how to repair the largest battleship in the galaxy."

Starscream eyed him petulantly as he took in his words, torn between undoing the damage caused by Soundwave and attending to his own recent concerns. "Fine, I'll look into it when I get the chance." he agreed begrudgingly. "In the meantime, go through the crew's records a second time to see if you can find someone with experience on mainframe restoration. Perhaps it's possible to reverse whatever bug caused the ship-wide failures in the first place."

With that he exited the room, leaving Knockout to himself once more. "I doubt it," he muttered to himself, leaning back on the berth with a long sigh. "Why did I ever agree to be second in command? All this extra work is seriously cutting into my 'me' time."

* * *

Jack walked into the main room of the Autobot base and looked around. The space was empty for the most part, save for Ratchet standing to one side by his workbench. The medic's back was turned as he hovered over a sizable selection of items that lay spread across the table. Though Jack couldn't see much from his vantage point on the floor, he was able to recognize a few medical tools and machine parts piled off to one side next to a few vials of a green liquid; something he guessed was the synthetic energon that Ratchet had been fiddling with ever since they found a damaged capsule with half a formula in it.

"Hey Ratchet, what're you working on?" Jack greeted with as much cheeriness as he could muster. The three kids had all gotten the call that Optimus was captured, by Starscream no less, and he knew that the bots must be taking it hard.

The medic turned, looking down at the boy. “Jack! You’re looking better,” Ratchet greeted him with a rare smile. “Though I thought we told you humans to refrain from visiting for the time being. How did you convince Nurse Darby to bring you all the way out here?"

The teen shrugged. "I told her I had to grab some stuff that I needed for school before you guys moved out. She was able to swing by on her way to work."

Ratchet shook his head a bit and turned back to his work. "I fear Miko has been a bad influence on you sometimes."

"I’ll try not to make it a habit to listen to her advice," he responded with a small smile. "Do you have any idea where Arcee is?"

"In the back halls near the energon storage unit," Ratchet gestured without turning back around. "She's in the middle of some delicate work. Don't sneak up on her."

Jack gave him a questioning look, but decided he might as well go see for himself. "Uh, thanks."

The teen made his way down the lengthy halls, limping slightly to keep the pressure off his bandaged ankle. Despite his best efforts, a deep ache pulsed with each step where Airachnid's acid has burned into him. Taking it slow, he looked up at the high ceilings that were originally made for when the place was a missile silo. Never would the humans who built it have thought that their structure would later be the perfect safe house for giants. Nostalgia rushed over him when he remembered that the Autobots would be moving on soon. There were a lot of good memories in this place, some of the best he'd ever had…

"Cybertron to Jack, you there?"

"Huh?" he started, exiting his reverie to find himself now in the room where Arcee was kneeling on the ground next to some open wall paneling.

"You look a little lost."

He shook his head. "Sorry, just thinking is all. It’s nice to see you."

"It’s nice to see you too, but you really shouldn't be here right now. I thought we told you guys that it was too dangerous to visit with the 'Cons knowing our location." 

Jack rubbed his arm guiltily. "I know. I just needed to see how you were doing."

"How I'm doing?" she said with mild amusement. "It wasn't me who was laid up on bed rest for three days straight."

Jack chuckled briefly before wincing at the motion. His left hand found its way to his chest, fingers feeling the tight bandages that were wrapped around the still-healing wounds he had received less than a week ago.

He settled for a weak smile, gritting his teeth. "It's a miracle Mom lets me out of the house anymore."

"June's a smart woman. She's just showing she cares about you."

Jack blinked at this. The last he knew, Arcee and his mother were still on polite but apprehensive terms, so the open compliment came as a surprise. Actually, Arcee was acting a little bit strange all around. Maybe he was expecting too much after the recent events, but he thought that she'd be a little more excited to see him up and walking around.

It made sense that she would still be a little shaken after what had happened; he hadn’t quite accepted the fact that Optimus had been captured yet either, and he hadn't even been there. Jack experienced a sudden wave of foolishness and he wondered if he’d made the right choice in coming here. Arcee was more than capable of handling herself. Thinking about it now, the idea that she would need the company of a child, even by human standards, seemed like a silly idea. But here he was. To simply leave now would be even more absurd than coming in the first place.

At Jack’s quietness, Arcee spoke up. “I’m gonna get back to it. You can stay and watch for a while if you want.” 

He nodded and leaned against one of the thick pipes that spanned nearby, content to watch her work for several minutes. 

She turned back to the opening again, taking a hubcap sized disk from a small stack and fitting it in among the few wires that ran along the inside of the wall. Holding it in place with one servo, she picked up a rivet gun and carefully started bolting it into place.

"What are those?" He gestured at her work. 

"High grade explosives," she replied bluntly.

His eyes widened slightly and he gave a quick glance to his surroundings, to make sure his presence wasn't disturbing anything important. "And why are you setting them up next to the fuel tanks?"

She spoke without stopping her work, a firm concentration on the task making her speech come secondary. "The Decepticons know where we are. Chances are that sometime soon, they're going to act on that knowledge. That’s why we’re moving. Even so, there's no way I'm going to let them come in here and run about as they please. And if we can blow a few of them up in the process, all the better." With this last statement she gunned in the last of another set of rivets, perhaps with a bit too much ferocity.

Jack watched her, noticing the stiff edge to her typically elegant motions. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine, Jack," she said exasperatedly. She closed her eyes, realizing that her words came across harsher than she intended. Opening them once again, she turned her head to look down at him, adopting a somewhat softer tone. "Listen, you should go home and get some rest. I'll get Ratchet to set up a ground bridge for you."

"But-" Jack started to protest.

"How about I come visit your garage tomorrow, for old time's sake?" she suggested with a slight smile. "I need to help move all our equipment over to the new base first, but after we're done you and I can spend some time together. I know we haven't gotten to go for a ride in quite a while."

"Alright," he finally accepted, realizing it was as much of a compromise as he was going to get out of her. He straightened up to leave. "I'll see you later then."

* * *

Starscream stood in front of the circular opening to the ship’s ground bridge, arms crossed, optics narrowed at the inert machine. He was loathe to admit it, but Knockout had a point about the aptitude of the crew. The Vehicons he had cleared out of the room had already run through all of the standard reboot procedures before he arrived. He’d walked in to find one of them lying on its back with a searchlight, looking hopelessly at the mess of wires that blanketed the inside of one of the control panels, while two more watched another attempt to locate the dense documentation files that were stored somewhere on the ship’s database. As much as he wanted to berate them for their lack of skill, here he stood just as unknowing.

He picked up where the three had left off at the computer console and rifled around until he located the files they had been close to finding. Frag, a bot needed a degree in astro-physics just to get past the table of contents on this thing. Mechatronic engineering had never been his forte, his former practice of science was more on the exploratory chemical research side of things, but he could probably figure it out if given enough time.

He immersed himself in the documents, feeling like a data clerk. It was hard to focus. His thoughts kept wandering to Earth and where Megatron could have crash landed.

‘Offline.’

He forced himself to assign the word to his hated leader. He was ‘offline’. All he needed was to find the body to verify and confirm with the rest of the Decepticons so it could be disposed of once and for all. Every second spent on this ship was another moment not knowing, and he struggled to keep himself from going out immediately to search yet again. The ground bridge however would be a very useful tool if he could get it working. Since Soundwave’s bug had activated before he could get the precise location information, he’d have to start from the coordinates that he and the Autobots had boarded the ship from and do his best to sweep from there.

It took quite a while, but after running through some of the more obtuse troubleshooting protocols and attempting to run a small energy current through the portal generator he finally determined that it wasn’t a physical problem at all.

“Of course it’d have to be a virus,” he mumbled into his servos, leaning heavily on the console. Soundwave, master of all things technological and overcomplicated, had only compromised the programming of the ground bridge, not the hardware itself. If the machine was damaged he wouldn’t have a way back-

Starscream snapped his head up and stared at the empty portal. Soundwave still had remote access to the portal. He could unscramble the data and come through at any time! If Megatron was online, he could-

Starscream forced himself to stop. Take a slow intake. The ground bridge couldn’t function on the ship’s limited power right now. Megatron was dead. Soundwave was stuck presumably looking for his corpse on Earth unless he decided to make the trip back up into space, in which case he’d have him shot on sight. Everything was fine.

He remained at the console, not absorbing anything that was being displayed on the screen for several cycles, until he finally pulled himself away to stalk over to the component housing of the portal itself. If a vital piece went missing, by pure coincidence of course, the ship would be that much more secure. He could manage the long trip through the atmosphere for the sake of ship security. He scrutinized the various components with a critical eye and settled for a smallish silver box-like structure, the wave displacement module. He would just stash this away where no one would find it until it was needed.

With his task completed, Starscream exited the portal chamber. He felt a bit stiff and worn out from working on the ground bridge, but he didn’t want to wait any longer. He’d fly down to Earth for a while. It’d do him some good to stretch his wings. On his way out, he passed by one of the Vehicons who he’d shooed out earlier.

“Lord Starscream. Did you figure out what was done to the ground bridge, sir? I was thinking, if nothing else worked, that we could try swapping out some of the processing chips. Maybe one of them got fried or corrupted somehow,” it suggested.

Starscream waved a servo. “Don’t worry about it. Without the power to sustain a portal, it’s no use wasting time restoring its functionality.”

“So you couldn’t fix it either? I guess that makes two of us-“

A flash of blue light washed over the Vehicon, freezing it in place, and Starscream reached out to push it over with a crash. Stowing away the Immobilizer for safekeeping, he opened a private com channel.

“Commander Knockout. I found another immobilized Vehicon near the ground bridge chamber.” He continued on his way to the ship’s airlock. “Can you send someone to collect? I’m going out.”


	3. Procedure

"Ring ring, this is the doctor calling," Knockout spoke through the door with a slight singsong tone to his voice. "You in there, Starscream? You know, I'd really like some help with _fixing_ _the_ _ship_ if you wouldn't mind!" His tone crescendoed to a near-yell as he stood at the door of Starscream's new captain’s quarters. As far as he knew, the seeker hadn't been seen for nearly two solar cycles.

"Personally, I'd like to get the place up and running as soon as possible, if for no other reason than to get my tires on the ground; and I find it quite insensitive that you expect _me_ to head up the repair team when I don't know scrap about interplanetary space ships," Knockout finished with a huff, glaring at the metal paneling after he got no response, as if he blamed it personally for his problems. “This is ridiculous,” he muttered with a final sigh and turned away from the door. It was clear that there was no one home.

Again.

Starscream was really starting to get on his nerves. If he had known just how much extra slack he’d be expected to pick up, Knockout never would have accepted the offer to be Second in Command in the first place. Whatever perks came with such a high ranking position certainly weren’t worth it. 

He’d been counting on treating it like any other job: perform the bare minimum on a regular basis, and every now and then strive to impress the higher-ups with some sort of great accomplishment that he could coast on for as long as possible. It was his compromise with the world; give just enough to satisfy others and he wouldn't ask for much in return. In the absence of Megatron's suffocating management tactics, he had figured whatever job demands that were placed on the second in command would decrease in lieu of a less tyrannical ruler. Instead he got stuck with a skeleton crew, a ship that didn't work, and a commander that was just now walking around the corner.

"Oh. Knockout," Starscream greeted him wearily.

"My Liege," Knockout replied flatly.

"Taking a break I see. Are you done with your tasks for the cycle?"

Knockout ticked his head slightly to the side, working to keep his ire in check. As if Starscream had the audacity to keep tabs on him like he was a simple sparkling. All the while disappearing for days at a time. "Just taking a break. Seeing what progress the _other_ teams have made," he responded tersely.

Starscream threw him a sideways look in response to his foul tone, but didn’t say anything.

Knockout's mouth twisted, unable to wait any longer. "So, where have _you_ been this entire time?"

Starscream let out a short affronted breath. "Wh- As Lord high leader of the Decepticons, I don't believe it necessary to have to explain myself to-“

"Oh, don't pull that ‘lord high leader' scrap with me. You've been out looking for Megatron's body all this time haven't you? Honestly Starscream, give it a rest. Like you said before, Megatron's gone; it's time you started living in the present, not chasing after ghosts," he argued.

"Look,” he continued before Starscream could talk back. “how about instead of scouring the planet for a sparkless shell, you go do something with the big rig we have stowed in the prison bay. I know he's not going places anytime soon, but you have to admit, it's kind of ridiculous having the leader of the Autobots locked up on your ship and not so much as giving him a second glance."

Starscream's jaw clenched. "I'll get around to dealing with Optimus Prime when I require something of him," he retorted stubbornly.

"Fine, just let me know when you plan on thawing him out. We wouldn't want our 'valuable prisoner' to perish due to any unforeseen complications with being paralyzed for so long," he scoffed. It would serve Starscream right for putting off his duties. "How about the Vehicons that were immobilized during the battle?"

Starscream brought a few digits to his temple, shuttering his optics. "Knockout, can this wait? I really wanted to get an hour or two of recharge before dealing with anything."

"I need workers, engineers. You can't just keep half your army frozen in the back room!"

Starscream quirked an eyebrow disbelievingly. "Half?"

"Half, tenth, whatever." Knockout waved him off.

Starscream made a face. "Fine. Bring the first one into the medbay and I'll see what I can do. If it will help you get this place back up and running, the sooner the better."

* * *

Starscream stood leaning against one of the medical tables with his arms crossed. His digits tapped impatiently against the surface of his arm as he watched Knockout gather a tray full of medical tools. How he’d known of his recent agenda was anyone's guess. Knockout didn’t strike him as someone who’d be astute enough to pick up on his activities. 

His words rang sour. How could he be so certain he was dead without seeing it for himself? Starscream had searched until his fuel reserves pinged close to empty and still there was no sign of his former master’s body. Even now, the pull of uncertainty kept him looking at the door, waiting for the opportunity to return to combing the landscape. He scowled. Even from the grave, Megatron somehow still managed to torment him.

The swooshing of the doors signaled the arrival of Breakdown, a stiff figure slung over one shoulder.

Knockout motioned him to a table. "Here, we'll set up at the center table. Just lay her down."

_Her?_

Starscream's mind snapped to attention and he moved forward to get a better look at their first patient, recoiling a step once he realized who it was.

"What's _she_ doing here?"

Now it was Knockout's turn to give him a questioning glance. "Airachnid is one of the persons best suited for hastening the recovery of the ship's major systems. After going through some of the on-hand files, I discovered that her history of solitary travel forced her to acquire skills that could be quite useful in restoring some of the basic utilities."

"Wonderful," Starscream sighed, eyeing Airachnid's immobile form with distaste. She looked the same as when he last saw her, her spider legs still deployed in an attacking pose, giving the impression that she was intending on gutting all of them. By all accounts, she was quite possibly the last addition he cared to have back aboard his ship. Not only was her exploitative nature truly deplorable, but it just so happened that she was technically second in command when Megatron perished.

_Hopefully she doesn't remember how she was frozen in the first place..._

With the reverse commands in place, the Immobilizer emitted a soft blue pulse that seeped into Airachnid’s torso, spreading across the rest of her frame. For a moment nothing happened.

Then a single claw on the end of one of her curled spider legs twitched, followed by several spasms of a similar nature, each one increasing in magnitude. The spider-bot let out a gasp and her whole body convulsed one last time as her systems started to reboot themselves. Her body fell limp on the table, taking a moment to cycle air through her stagnant systems while she squeezed her optics tightly shut.

Knockout watched the process with interest, jotting down a few notes. "Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty. How're you feeling? Sore, stiff, aching processor? I'm curious on how being immobilized for such an extended period would affect one’s systems.” He tapped at some of the monitors near her table. “Judging by your vitals, it appears that without proper circulation processes running the energon through its designated course, the various minerals couldn’t find the way to their destinations and eventually settled stagnant. You may be experiencing some slight nausea," he noted with an odd flavor of upbeat detachment.

"That's positively enlightening, Knockout," she rasped as she lay flat on her back on the operating table. "I'm so glad I get to wake up from the worst stasis of my life to hear exactly what's going wrong inside me. Now do me a favor, and shut the frag up!" she rebuked hoarsely.

"See, this is why I didn't want to wake her up in the first place," Starscream muttered, not caring whether Airachnid was in audio range or not.

"So tell me, do you feel any tingling sensations?" Knockout hovered over her, some sort of medical monitor in hand.

"If by tingling you mean the acute burning pain that shoots through my limbs every time I try to get off this slagging operation table…" she spat.

"You're welcome," Starscream addressed her cynically, disappointed that he was not able to take more enjoyment in her rude awakening.

Airachnid craned her head to get a better view of Starscream, who made no move to accommodate her currently limited field of vision. "Starscream. So it seems Megatron's favorite bird is back in its cage," she quipped without even a hint of a smile. "How many Autobots did you have to snuff this time to get back in his good graces?"

Starscream scowled as he looked down at her. Despising the notion that he had been forced to call upon her aid, it was all he could do to hold himself in the same room as her. "The only reason I agreed to wake you is because your skills are necessary in the recovery and repair of the Nemesis. If you do not wish to be put back into stasis, I suggest you keep your commentary to yourself." He fingered the Immobilizer, keeping it in plain view of her.

"Noted," she said simply, doing nothing to mask the venomous edge to her voice, while doing her best to move the rest of her body as little as possible. Even the subtle vibrations from her speech were sending shocks of pain through her circuits. It was just like Starscream to feel the need to broker a deal whilst her whole body was re-acclimating to its own presence. She didn’t have the energy needed to butt heads with his ego right now.

The door on the far side of the room opened and Breakdown entered with a second immobilized patient.

Starscream turned, just as keen to part ways with Airachnid as she was with him, and beckoned Knockout to follow him towards the door.

"Lord Starscream, I've been meaning to tell you-" Breakdown started before the seeker strode past him, completely ignoring his presence.

Knockout trailed behind, calling back to his partner as they passed. "Sorry Breakdown, I guess we’re going to revive the rest of the stiffs in the holding room. Look after our patient while I'm gone?" The door slid closed behind them, leaving Breakdown no choice but to lay the immobilized trooper he was carrying onto the nearest table.

"So I take it that we won the battle." Airachnid asked rhetorically from behind him. She lay as still as possible, gazing impassively up at the ceiling.

"The Autobots were repelled, yes." Breakdown eyed her from a distance. Even when her body lay vulnerable, her presence still managed to fill the room, causing a chill to run down his spine. Though his wounds had all but healed, his last mission with the femme remained fresh in his mind and he couldn't help but think back to her twisted satisfaction in seeing another living being squirm for the sake of entertainment.

"'Yes?' That's all I get? Well, I suppose I can just read what went down in the archives after I get out of here," she said, annoyed at Breakdown's lack of elaboration. "I heard you address Starscream as 'Lord'. Does that mean the old bucket's been kicked?" she asked, narrowing her optics.

"Lord Megatron perished as a result of the Autobot incursion. Starscream has taken it upon himself to continue his legacy." Breakdown replied evenly, well aware that the only reason she wasted precious energy on him was because he had information which she wanted.

"I thought it seemed like he was demonstrating a larger amount of self-entitlement than usual. It figures that he would return just in time to snag the title for himself." She retreated into her own thoughts, leaving Breakdown to fidget on his own until she finally broke the silence.

"Muscles, help me up."

"But you're in no condition to-" He made a move as if to gently ease her back onto the berth, but couldn't bring himself to come in contact with her.

"Fine, I'll do it myself." She smacked his hand away weakly and slid her feet over the edge of the table, dropping to the floor. Her legs buckled and several of her spider appendages darted forward to catch her weight, their pointed tips finding shaky purchase in the tight seams of the floor paneling. Her optics locked determinedly forward as she half dragged herself from the room.

Breakdown watched her shamble out the door, doing his best to suppress a small amount of guilt that welled up inside him. Sighing to himself, he hoisted the immobilized Vehicon back onto his shoulder and made his way to rejoin with Knockout in the other room.

* * *

Hours later, Knockout and Breakdown worked amidst the slew of awoken Vehicons. Starscream had left as soon as his portion was done.

"Can you believe the audacity of it all?"

"You said it," Breakdown agreed automatically, registering his friend's words just enough to respond appropriately. His own thoughts remained swirling about his encounter with Airachnid as his body effortlessly held a weakly struggling Vehicon from rolling itself onto the floor."

"I mean, not only does he insist on spending all of his time searching for Megatron on a pointless endeavor, but the moment I _do_ manage to get his assistance with the immobilized Vehicons, he blows through the whole lot at once, leaving _me_ to deal with the aftermath." The doctor roughly jabbed a syringe he was holding into the Vehicon's induction port, the contents quickly distributing to sedate the patient's pained movements. Satisfied that the drone was no longer a danger to itself, the pair moved on to the next one.

"It's not like it matters if it drains our resources and makes it harder for me to rehabilitate them all," Knockout ranted, dipping into sarcasm.

"Mhmm," Breakdown responded wordlessly over the din of pained moans from their room full of patients.

"Go take a recharge, Starscream. I'll take care of everything!"

Hold patient to the table, jab, move on.

"Sure, I’d _love_ to stay marooned out here in space for another two months."

Jab.

"I don't _like_ being stuck in space, Breakdown."

"I know you don't."

"Not one bit."

* * *

Soundwave flew across the craggy savanna, dusk pulling an indigo hue across the land and making his sleek form nearly invisible against the darkening sky. A few small clusters of lights could be seen nestled on the horizon, too far to be of any consequence. Judging by the coordinates that he had managed to pull from the ship's databanks, he wouldn't have any need to venture near them.

Thanks to his efforts on board the Nemesis, Starscream and his crew would not be able to follow him without some degree of difficulty. Power reserves were cut off to all but the most basic systems, leaving the ship unable to do anything but maintain its orbit in space. Communications were down, along with all ground bridge capabilities and a good portion of the higher computer functions on board.

Of course it was reversible, so long as one knew how to neutralize the quintuple encoded, polymorphic virus that he had buried in the system's mainframe. Save for that, the only way he could foresee the ship regaining functionality again would be to bypass all major system paths manually, something that would take anywhere from 15 to 35 solar cycles depending on the competence of Starscream and his crew. He was counting on it being more than enough time to locate his master.

Soundwave accessed his internal navigation system, tapping into the data he downloaded from the ship's navigation logs before he'd safeguarded the original copy in a virtual niche inside the ship's databanks. By using the speed and coordinates of the ship during the estimated time of descent, he could theoretically pinpoint the location of Megatron's body.

[Ship coordinates. Event:begindescend]/: 6.976350, 42.805940, 4.629398

[Ship trajectory. Event:mean]/: 294.7 WNW

[Ship velocity. Event:mean]/: 362.478

[Audio log timestamp. Event:begindescend]/: logged 32:02.96\\\4105:23.20

[Wind variable. :32:02.96\\\4105:23.20]/: Unknown. Data insufficient.

[Addendum]/: Various outside forces unaccounted for.

1.427% margin of error.

The math was simple. It was the search itself that would take time. With an acceptable set of coordinates calculated, the procedure would originate at the most likely point and radiate outwards by degrees of 1.726841 with the aid of Laserbeak covering every other rotation. Megatron's energy signature could not be counted on in this scenario, especially if his transponder was damaged. Soundwave would have to rely on a combination of magnetic and radio waves to perform the proper and thorough search that was needed. He might as well be searching by visual cues alone.

Putting together a simple diagram which detailed the search protocols, he sent the information to Laserbeak. With a chirp, the minicon detached itself from his form, eager to comply. Positioning himself at the center of his marked area, Soundwave began his search.

* * *

_22.43 Solar hours later_

An incoming transmission from Laserbeak graced Soundwave's systems, pulling him out from his trance-like search routine; a ground surface anomaly 26.2 kliks west. The readings looked promising, and he made a mental note of where he paused his own search to veer off towards Laserbeak's position.

The site was visible from a distance. A broad crater gouged the landscape, leaving a furrow that led to a steep drop off into one of many small gorges. Soundwave touched down lightly in robot mode where the trail dropped off and peered over the edge. He dropped quickly to where a small muddy river ran through the base of the ravine.

Megatron's body lay across the stream, masked poorly by a few scraggly trees that stood broken from where he had crashed through them. Dust and dried mud covered his chassis in a crusty coating that mingled with the rivulets of leaking fluid that dripped in an oily film onto the surface of the water. Across the way, Laserbeak sat perched on a rock, watching its master's movements with keen attentiveness.

Soundwave took a step forward, then hesitated, realizing that in the heat of the moment he had forgotten to scan the area before proceeding. Who knew if there were humans around or other dangers that could take advantage of his distraction? His scan revealed a fortunate absence of activity. During this time he took note of the groove above them, where Megatron had slid into the small ravine where he now lay after impact. On the opposite side there was a point higher up where part of the canyon wall had crumbled away from the body hitting it on the way down, but the bedrock seemed stable for now.

Satisfied that they would not be disturbed, Soundwave hastened over to his fallen leader and fell to a crouched position, staring blankly at the damage in front of him. He would not lie to himself (as he had yet to find any concrete benefit to self-delusion), the damage was bad. Far beyond the traditional medical practices he had taught himself over the years.

His servos hovered over the gruesome sight in a rare state of uncertainty. The closer he examined it, the worse it appeared. For lack of knowing what else to do he started up a general diagnostic program, taking in Megatron's current state for analysis.

Head: Minor dent in helmet. Threat: negligible. Examine more thoroughly.

Right arm: Scratched, but functional.

Left arm: Shoulder dislocated, intact. Forearm nearly severed. Elbow joint broken. 62% of both sensory and data cables either dislocated or snapped. Primary energon conduit still functional. Minor energon leakage from multiple secondary conduits.

Torso: Large area of outer plating damaged on left side of chest, segment bent back exposing sections of interior mechanisms. Spark chamber largely unscathed. Spark extant. Energon in chest cavity, source of origin: unknown.

Right leg: Large gash present on thigh plating. Minor internal damage. Low priority.

Left leg: Lower leg dented, but functional

Dents, scorch marks, minor scratches present throughout: negligible.

Condition: Immobilized

Soundwave finished up his evaluation and leaned in closer to examine the chest area. The large quantity of energon that had accumulated was his primary concern. He reached a servo into the opening, feeling for where he believed several of the larger energon conduits to be situated. Running his digits along the line he found the obstruction, a sharp point of torqued chest armor that had punctured through the thick outer casing. In any normal situation a wound like this would have caused the channel to continue expunging energon at a moderate rate until the leak was stemmed by either an emergency shut-off valve, or an outside source.

The fact that the wound had not caused terminal loss of energon despite remaining open was puzzling. With the time and severity of the puncture taken into account, the discharge of energon should have already drained Megatron's energon levels well past critical. Soundwave considered the matter.

Perhaps the Immobilizer, which effectively locked down all but the most vital of life systems, stood to blame for this phenomenon. While constant energon circulation was normally required to maintain functionality in both vital systems and outer extremities, only a fraction of the amount was needed to maintain such a vegetative state. In the absence of any flow, the energon was all but stagnant. So in short, Megatron's immobilized state was beneficial in this instance. Though it was likely due to the body's inability to limply absorb the impact of the fall that caused so much damage in the first place. Despite the benefit of the stalled energon flow, there still remained a pool of the iridescent blue substance in the chest cavity that had drained gradually, as any functions of self-preservation that would have stopped the leak were currently not online.

Through his millennia of serving Megatron Soundwave had acquired many skills. Communications being his specialty of course, but he had also put his abilities to use in the fields of infiltration, spy, tactician, and fighter when necessary. He found that in his line of work there was always use for an extra talent; another way to understand and combat the enemy. And though he knew the basics of medicine, in a rare moment of regret he found himself wishing he had practiced more than simple patchwork.

A list of possible solutions fired through his processor, each one taking only a fraction of a second to be evaluated for viability. Once a sizable amount were processed, he singled out the solutions with the highest possibility of successful treatment for further analysis. He ran through the list, starting with the one that had the highest probability of successful treatment.

The work of an experienced doctor was preferable, and the Autobot's medic, Ratchet, was the most adept on this planet. The location of the Autobot base was still stored in his memory banks, though he would no doubt have to contend with the remaining Autobots to get to his target.

Fear was not a factor. He would gladly give his spark for that of his master. Moreso, the probability that he could capture the Autobot medic and bring him here without becoming overwhelmed by the opposition was high, but it was not a certainty. However, it was certain that Megatron would perish without medical attention. If by the slim chance he were to fail in his task, there would be two lives lost with nothing to be gained. Even if Soundwave succeeded in getting the Autobot medic here, a scenario that Ratchet could be forced to work on his sworn enemy was unlikely. From records and past scenarios, he believed that Ratchet would rather die than aid in the recovery of the Decepticon leader.

Enlisting Knockout's assistance was far more practical. There was a high probability that the Decepticon surgeon would give his services willingly, and if not, he was easily threatened. Retrieving him was another matter due to his own actions aboard the Nemesis having… unforeseen consequences. Experimentally, Soundwave sent out a private Decepticon distress signal addressed to the medical bay on the Nemesis. As expected his call met only static, and for a brief moment he let himself experience a wave of bitter amusement at the irony of being shut out by his own virus. Flying all the way back to fetch the medic in person was out of the question. Even if Starscream didn't order him shot on sight, Megatron would likely perish before he could return.

Taking several nanoclicks to run through a few other increasingly bad ideas, Soundwave made up his mind. With a faint click, the communications mech deployed a pair of sensory tentacles, letting their small nodes linger over a few of the more sensitive wounds in order to gain a better understanding of them. One of the ends eventually made its way carefully to a port near Megatron's spark chamber while the second snaked around to the back of his neck, initiating an interfaced connection between the two.

Never before had Soundwave used his sensory tentacles to interface directly with another living Cybertronian, apart from his deployers of course. Not only was the number of willing test subjects obscenely low, but it was dangerous on his end as well. Interfacing with the Nemesis was difficult enough at times. Though hopelessly intricate at its core, specialized ports and data paths made it possible to read and manipulate the ship's surface data and operations. A living Cybertronian on the other hand was nearly impossible to access. The only known way to safely access the core processor was through the brute force and potentially damaging methods of Shockwave's cortical psychic patch. If not for the fact that Megatron was deep in modified stasis, any kind of direct interface would be too risky. He would have to make sure to input only enough energy to activate the most basic functions of Megatron's body or risk an overwhelming surge of feedback from Megatron's own systems.

Feeding a fraction of electricity through the connection, Soundwave shuddered at the influx of information he received upon startup. Taking a moment to adjust to the plethora of new signals and pathways that were now open to him, Soundwave gradually let himself sink deeper into the connection. He mustn't lose track of his end goal. If there was any hope of saving Megatron, he would have to convince his leader's inert body to accept his external commands in lieu of the usual automatic systems.

Soundwave sent out a virtual feeler towards what he thought to be the central regulator and was pleased that he was able to find it without too much difficulty. It seemed that many of the pathways were similar to how the Nemesis functioned. Positioning himself to where he could gauge the regulator, he searched for the sparkbeat first. At least from the outside it was apparent that Megatron's spark had not been extinguished, but without the proper tools at his disposal it was impossible to tell what condition it was in. What he found here though astonished him. While there was definitely a signal to be read, it was not beating in the standard off-beat throb that was typical of a healthy spark. Instead it read as a low pulsing hum, quiet and idle. He considered the oddity. All systems were idle in a state no healthy Cybertronian would ever enter. Without the usual processor activity or internal stimuli, the spark had no function other than to wait in a sort of hibernation for the body around it to return to functionality.

He continued to feel for activity in Megatron's central processor and electrical relays. While clearly not damaged, it was a similar case to the status of his spark. Most of Megatron's vital processes were in all accounts serviceable, but lacking in any sort of information transfers. Soundwave made sure to log whatever information he found that could be useful later and moved on to the damage in the chest cavity.

Circumventing the offline damage sensors, he located the area where the energon pressure read less than zero and manually provided the minute amounts of electrical signals needed to activate the shut-off valves associated with the damaged conduits. With the valves now firmly shut, Soundwave began to concentrate on coaxing the self-repair systems back online. If he couldn't repair the damage himself, then at least he could persuade Megatron's body to do it for him.

Funneling in another percentage of his own energy reserves, Soundwave reactivated a small cluster of nanites near a damaged sector to begin repairs before moving onto the next area…

* * *

Hours passed before he was pulled out of his sort of reverie by a low droning sound in the distance. Taking a moment to backtrack out of the complex weave of links and electrical pathways, Soundwave at last pulled himself to the surface. With his sensory tentacles still plugged firmly in place, Soundwave lifted his faceplate to the sky, searching for the source of the noise. His spark skipped a beat when he noticed the sleek form of a jet against the darkening navy sky.

Starscream?

A split-second later he scolded himself when he realized it was merely a small passenger jet. The past several hours had been taxing on his processor and had put him on edge, distracting him from the knowledge that he had the sound frequencies of every Decepticon's engine in his internal records for identification purposes. Nevertheless he took the time to craft a simple signal dampening field around their location, more for his own energy signature than Megatron's nigh nonexistent one. Now the only way anyone, Cybertronian or otherwise, could discover their location was by direct line of sight.

Soundwave rose at last from his kneeling position beside his master to survey his charge once more. Now that he had spent some time surveying and closing the damaged energon lines he felt confident enough to be able to move Megatron to a somewhat more sheltered location. Careful not to jar the points where he remained connected, Soundwave secured a grip on the armor plating just behind Megatron's shoulders. Deploying Laserbeak, he enlisted its help in maneuvering the nearly severed left arm so it wouldn't get snagged while being moved.

Together, they carefully hauled his cargo up the bank to a small outcropping and arranged both Megatron and himself so he could continue to analyze and initiate repairs. Calling Laserbeak over to dock on his chest, he assigned the tiny mecha a new mission operative. First, normalize as much evidence as possible of Megatron's crash landing. And second, find more energon. Not for him, but for his leader once he was sealed well enough to receive fuel to replace the vast quantities that were lost.

With the data commands transferred, Laserbeak detached itself and immediately began the assigned duties while Soundwave himself settled back into the link that he had established with his master.


	4. Incite

“Never again will I underestimate the size of this dirtball of a planet,” Starscream growled under his breath, the pale blue of the Earth’s atmosphere dropping below his thrusters. Four solar cycles since the altercation. Four solar cycles of uncertainty and near constant searching of the landscape they’d been over during Megatron’s planetfall. It wasn’t paranoia that fueled him. (At least that’s what he kept repeating over and over in his head.) If that blasted tyrant could survive a space bridge explosion at point blank range, then why wouldn’t he be able to survive a fall from the Stratosphere? The knotted feeling of self-loathing twisted at his insides when he thought again of how he’d carelessly ejected Megatron’s body from the ship. ‘No evidence, no problem’, he’d thought. What folly.

Starscream slowed to dock with the Nemesis, eager to enter the controlled atmosphere of the ship. Transforming, he landed on his feet and shuttered the access port behind him. Short on energon and in desperate need of a recharge, he slumped through the halls. The fastest way to his chambers was through a section of the ship that was currently undergoing repairs. He made a beeline in that direction.

He passed some freshly repaired sections of wall, the raw welding catching in the limited backup lighting. A trio of Vehicon workers sat resting nearby. Their idle chatter came to a halt as Starscream approached, but he studiously ignored them as he passed. 

Ahead were two more Vehicons walking away from him. Each one held a heavy looking crate that reached up to just under their visors. Getting around them would be difficult. Before he could decide if it was worth turning going a different way, one of the Vehicons’ pedes caught on the edge of a section of paneling that had been left in the walkway. It stumbled and fell to one knee in order to regain its balance. A few mechanical parts clattered to the floor.

Its companion shifted its load in an effort to see what fell. “What are you, crazy? Starscream will have our heads if we break these parts! Come on, pick them up!” 

“Like he’s gonna know,” the Vehicon grumbled as it readjusted the box on its knee and reached out with a servo to feel around the floor. “He’s probably not even on the ship right now. Now if Knockout finds out-”

Starscream cleared his throat behind them and they both turned, stricken.

“Finds out about what?” Knockout’s voice came from further down the hall on the other side as he stepped into view with a datapad clutched in one servo and the other on his hip.

The crate that had been balanced precariously on the kneeling Vehicon’s leg crashed to the floor and the other one nearly transformed out of shock as it whipped back to face him.

“N-nothing, Commander Knockout! Lord Starscream! We were just taking these parts to the engine room.”

“Yeah! And uh, we’ll catalogue them all when we get there!”

_ “Hey, don’t volunteer us for more work!” _ the first one said in a harsh whisper, giving the second a small smack.

“Uh huh... Wait, Starscream? When did you get back?” Knockout asked irrately and took a step towards him, his pede stepping carefully between the parts scattered all over the ground.

Starscream froze and shot a glance over his shoulder, ready to hightail it out of there. By a stroke of luck, Knockout’s attention switched to something beyond the corner he’d come from.

“No no no! What are you doing? That’s a quad-woven twisted pair wire. You need a quint-woven coax cable! What were you raised in a robo-barn?”

Starscream breathed a sigh of relief as Knockout ran back the way he came. Even from out of sight, his voice carried loud and clear.

“If your stupidity causes a system meltdown I’ll have  _ you _ melted down for spare parts!”

“I’m sorry Commander Knockout Sir! No one told me there was a difference.”

“Of course they didn’t. You’re a miner, not a mechanic, and I’m telling you now so don’t mess it up! I don’t have time to oversee every single installation.”

The two Vehicons who were carrying the crates scrambled to pick up their dropped cargo and scurried past the intersection.

“You didn’t install any of these yet did you?”

Starscream could just barely make out the hum of uncertainty from the drone, followed by a much more audible yell of frustration. The three Vehicons who had been on break behind him were now listening with interest as well. Starscream’s optic twitched, his shoulders hitching before he whirled to face the trio.

“What are you three dallying around for? Get back to work!”

One of the Vehicons made the equivalent of an eye roll with its head and started up its previous conversation, acting like the seeker wasn’t even there.

Starscream felt a growl rise in his throat. Fine. Knockout could lecture these three after he was done with the poor soul in the hallway. He couldn’t take this anymore.

Starscream spun on his heel and stalked back the way he came. He would go the long way.

“I bet Optimus Prime never had these kinds of issues commanding the Autobots,” he said under his breath, processor concocting a similar scenario in his head as he stalked down an empty service tunnel.

He pictured Bulkhead crouching in front of a delicate piece of machinery in the Autobot base’s main hall, his gigantic fingers stubbing against the fine wiring. Ratchet coming up behind him. A friendly greeting.

‘Bulkhead, my good friend, how is your project going?’

‘Not great, Doc-bot. I can’t figure out this connection.’

‘Ah, quite simple, my friend! Red to blue is always true! You’ll get it next time no problem!’ A friendly servo clapped on his back and he smiled.

‘Thanks, Ratch. You’re so smart!’

Starscream winced. Maybe he was laying it on a little thick, but the buddy-buddy bravado forced its way into his mind’s eye unprompted.

Optimus walked in, a heavy looking piece of machinery hoisted up on one shoulder with Arcee and Bumblebee sitting perched on top. ‘Ratchet, old friend. Bulkhead, my friend. I see the two of you have completed your task through your unbreakable bonds of teamwork. Good job.’

‘All thanks to you, Optimus,’ everyone said in unison.

Starscream shook his head violently, nearly gagging. What the slag. He must be more tired than he thought.

Vapid conjecture aside, he settled for a more grounded query and wondered how the Autobots were functioning without their beloved leader. Were they falling apart at the seams? Ratchet was probably de’facto leader in the Prime’s absence. Starscream couldn’t picture any of the other three leading aside from maybe Arcee. Of all the Autobots, she was the one that took the longest to tolerate his presence in the base. She must be furious…

He tried not to think about it.

The memory of her face entered his mind unbidden, looking back through the throng of Decepticon soldiers that rushed to fight for him. Livid. Even now he wasn’t sure if her parting shot had been meant for him or not. It was her partner that he’d killed after all, something he didn’t quite understand the magnitude of until he’d spent time with the small group of Autobots. Like the mighty combiners of wartime Cybertron, each Autobot was a part of the larger whole. Removing a limb crippled the group in a way that didn’t quite translate over to the Decepticon faction as it was now. He took an arm in killing Cliffjumper, he took the torso when he captured Optimus Prime, now the scattered limbs were left to hobble on makeshift pegs and scrap metal.

Driven by an unspoken thought, his legs carried him not to his quarters, but on a detour to the detainment cells. Passing the single guard that stood on duty, he entered the cell block without a word.

Only after the door sealed behind him did he stop, staring down the short hallway lined by sturdy doors that each led to a separate holding cell. It seemed especially quiet. The constant sounds of ship repairs were far in the distance and the faint buzz of the dim backup lights were audible near the ceiling. Only one cell had a red light illuminated next to it that indicated it was occupied. Starscream slouched and crossed one arm over the other so that his jaw could rest heavily in one of his propped servos.

He stood for a moment and his optics wandered over to the red light. The silence was oppressive.

How did it get to this point?

The red light shone steadily.

He left.

* * *

After a fitful recharge Starscream found Airachnid in the engine room. Her spider limbs held her aloft so she could see over the shoulder of one of the Vehicons who worked on an exposed wiring panel. A small crowd of Vehicons crowded around her.

“-and by introducing a cluster of diodes supporting the smaller module, all we have to do is bypass the primary command module, making the stalled part unnecessary.” She wrapped up the lesson as Starscream entered the room. The handful of Vehicons dispersed, a few of them shooting him quick glances as they scattered to pick up whatever tasks they were doing previously.

“I’m here to provide instruction on the ship repairs,” he announced stiffly.

Airachnid smiled. “You missed the seminar, Starscream. We just finished learning how to initiate a slow start sequence bypass on the engine. Isn’t that right, boys?” A few of the Vehicons clapped quietly yet enthusiastically. 

“Hmph.” Starscream moved away from her and approached one of the Vehicons who held a pair of wire clippers carefully between its digits. “And what about you? That’s a delicate piece of machinery you’re working on. Did you run through all of the correct discharge procedures before opening it up like that?”

“Starscream,” Airachnid detached herself from her students and moved to an unoccupied section of the room, beckoning for him to follow.

Rolling his head, he begrudgingly followed.

“I already ran them through the proper safety procedures an hour ago, though it’s touching that you finally feel the need to help out. If you’d like, I can tutor you in how to use a blowtorch so you can repair some of the sidewall after the  _ professionals _ finish with their installations.”

Starscream scowled. “Just keep them in line. I wouldn’t want you to have to take the fall for anything that goes wrong under your supervision.”

“Aww, are you feeling a little bit left out?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You just have that look about you. The look that says ‘I’m so important, I deserve to have people respect me, why aren’t they bowing to my every beck and call?’” she almost crooned.

His jaw clenched at her nerve. Would anyone think less of him if he gutted her in the middle of the engine room? He flexed his claws and clenched them shut again.

“How  _ perceptive, _ ” He finally managed to grind out.

“Maybe if you took a more hands on approach you’d deserve the love and admiration you so crave.”

He took a steadying breath. “I shouldn’t have to  _ prove _ myself. Has everyone so quickly forgotten how I led them during the three stellar cycles of Megatron’s absence only mere months ago? Not to mention the centuries of service before that.”

“Some of the drones have been coming to me as of late with their problems. They feel conflicted.”

“Coming to you?”

“Some of them rather liked serving under Megatron. They are uneasy and lost in the current state of affairs, almost like there is no command at all.”

“They  _ have _ a leader.”

“Many are being forced to perform tasks that they are unfamiliar with, with little to no instruction. Well, until _ I _ stepped in.”

“What are you getting at?”

“It’s my concern that you are struggling to forge the bond of trust needed to retain the loyalty of your crew. Previous service as Megatron’s second in command aside, you need something more recent to prove that you are the most fit to lead the Decepticons. Something that Megatron did not already set an example for. It doesn’t have to be anything huge mind you.”

_ ‘Concerned about me? That’s rich. _ ’ Starscream nearly said aloud, but he forced himself to contemplate her advice. She was being suspiciously compliant, but the truth of her words was undeniable. Pettiness wouldn’t save his reputation.

“I suppose an excursion to the planet’s surface would help to ease the troops’ cabin fever,” he started. “No way to get equipment down for any sort of mining activities, and we’d be limited to fliers only; but a raid… perhaps to a location that Megatron had always dreamed of striking.”

Airachnid said nothing as she watched him with an unreadable expression, her mouth curved very slightly into a patient smile.

“The Autobot base?” Starscream offered.

Her smile broadened. “Perfect! We can finally blow that place sky high. I’m sure that would do wonders for upping your standing with the crew. A good old fashioned Autobot killing.”

His spark skipped a beat. 

“Er, the location could be useful as a ground base while we’re stuck in space. We could overwhelm the bots with force and use their ground bridge to transport them back here. Throw them in the brig as trophies of war.”

She pursed her lips. “To what end? Even Optimus Prime, who is arguably the most valuable by far, has served no useful purpose in the time he’s been aboard. The most striking victory would be to finally eliminate them all while they’re without a stable command, before they try to stage a rescue attempt. And to the possibility of using their base as our own, that place is probably crawling with humans. You’ve witnessed firsthand how cozy the Autobots are with them. It would only be a matter of time before the human military came for the location. We need to take it all out once and for all.”

He hated to admit it, but she was right.

* * *

“Arcee? … Arcee!”

A blaring car horn assaulted Arcee’s senses, jarring her out of her thoughts. Her engine rumbled as she sat idle in front of another vehicle. The driver gestured rudely at Jack who sat perched on her seat. The light was green.

Jack waved sheepishly back at the driver. “Sorry! Uh, motor trouble.” He patted the side of Arcee’s gas tank as the two of them began to drive once more. The car soon sped past.

“Sorry about that, Jack. Guess I was distracted,” she admitted, scolding herself for not paying attention. Lucky they were at a stoplight.

“No biggie.” Jack opened his mouth to say something else, but seemed to think better of it. They rode in silence for several blocks.

“So, what do you think of my plan?” he asked finally.

Arcee wracked her processor, trying to recall what he’d been talking about, but she came up with nothing. “Can you run it by me again?”

He didn’t seem to mind. “I was thinking about scoping out the community pool later this week. I hear they souped it up with two whole diving boards and an above average waterslide. And who knows, maybe I could even make the leap from fast food underling to poolside concession minion.” She could hear the playfulness in his tone.

“Didn’t your mom tell you to take it easy for the next four to six weeks while your wounds healed?”

“Well, yeah. But nothing says that I can’t at least sit by the side of the pool while Sierra happens to be working as a lifeguard there. Maybe dangle my feet in the water for a bit.”

“So that’s what this is about.” Arcee chuckled and Jack cracked a grin beneath his motorcycle helmet. It felt strange to laugh after the stress of the past few days. It had taken a lot of convincing on Jack’s part to get her to drive all the way out here for something that seemed so trivial, but now that they were on the road without a destination in mind she could feel herself loosening up.

“Speaking of which, how are you healing? I forgot to ask you the other day,” Arcee said.

“I feel okay. I had to tell everyone at school that I tripped over a combine at my grandpa’s ranch; twisted my ankle, clipped one of the blades. They call me ‘Old McDarby’ now. Mom took off the torso wrap last night. She says the stitches can come out next Tuesday. It still hurts like heck when I stretch or twist, but mostly it just itches.”

Guilt still tugged at her spark at the thought of what Jack had to go through, but she did her best to shake it. “You’re lucky to have such a skilled mother to take care of you. Will you tell her thanks for me?”

“Why don’t you tell her yourself? We could swing by the hospital and pick her up. I’m sure she’d be stoked.” She could hear the hopefulness in his voice, but the thought of extending their ride made her falter.

“I should really get back soon. There’s some recon stuff I have to do to scope out the new location.” The excuse felt flimsy even as she said it. Jack must have sensed it too, but he let it slide. For a while he occupied himself by watching the animals in the ranch corrals that they drove past. Arcee kept a steady pace.

“How’s the new location going by the way?” he broke the silence.

“It’s fine.”

She felt him tense a little in the seat. “And you? Can we talk... about what happened? I’m kind of worried.”

Arcee felt an unreasonable wave of irritation at the sentiment. “Don’t be.” She had to force herself not to just cut the topic off with another ‘ _ I’m fine _ .’ “Everyone needs to stop worrying about me. I can handle myself. If you have to worry, worry about Optimus, or.. I don’t know, Bumblebee.”

“I’m not talking to Bumblebee right now, I’m talking to you. It’d be nice if you talked back.” He kept his tone even, though she could hear his underlying frustration. “I know you’re still mad about Starscream.”

Mad was an understatement. She was furious. And not even at him; well not  _ just _ at him. Jack waited. She didn’t say anything for a moment as she tried to collect her thoughts.

“I… I spent months being angry and resentful over Cliffjumper’s death. It wasn’t until I found someone else to hate that I took the blame off of my own shoulders. Only for him to enter our base, our home. And you know what? I was starting to trust him! I wanted to move on, so I opened myself up to the idea that maybe it was worth forgiving him.” A shudder ran through her frame. “But it was a mistake.” They were coming up on a roadside park-point that lay at the foot of the hills and she took the opportunity to pull over next to a lone cactus.

“Tailgate, Cliffjumper, Optimus… I’m tired of losing people.” Her engine idled quietly.

“Optimus isn’t lost though,” Jack responded after a moment. “We can still get him back. Maybe uh- maybe Fowler can requisition a space shuttle. Or we could get a satellite array to pinpoint the location of the warship! There’s lots of things we could do.”

“Jack, those are… fine ideas,” she said haltingly, “but there are a lot of factors at play. Top priority is setting up the new base, then Ratchet thinks we should focus on locating Megatron’s body-“

“What? Why  _ Megatron _ ? They could be hurting him!”

“Trust me, I think about it every waking moment. Ever since we got back it’s been a waiting game. When will the Decepticons show up again? Will we get a lead on where Megatron’s body is? When will we get another chance to sneak onboard to rescue Optimus? Is he even alive? It’s been complete radio silence for the past four days. It’s like driving blind.”

Jack let out a long breath. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

They remained for several minutes, the mid-day sun bearing down on both Jack who had turned inwards with his thoughts, and Arcee who absentmindedly watched a bird hop around the needles of the nearby cactus.

“Come on. It’s getting hot. We don’t want you to get heatstroke.”

A noise echoed from somewhere in the distance and Arcee remained perfectly still, straining her sensors. The ground rumbled very slightly under her tires. The cactus swayed.

_ That… had better not be what I think it is… _

“Did you hear that?... W-whoa!!”

Arcee’s tires spit gravel as she peeled out of the wayside stop. Jack braced himself, his grip tightening on her handlebars.

“Arcee to base, is anyone there?” she commed. She waited a second before trying again. “Ratchet, do you read me?” Scrap. She sped up.

“Arcee, slow down! We’re going to get pulled over!”

She ignored him, darting through an intersection and narrowly avoided a pair of cars that were crossing perpendicular. Horns blared behind them.

“Where are we going?” Jack shouted to make himself heard over the roar of her engine. She hardly noticed.

Up they went. Up the sloping highway that crested between two rocky mesas. At the top she veered onto a gravel side path that wound away from the main road and ended with a clear vantage point of the desert to the northeast. A plume of smoke was visible far in the distance, shimmering in the afternoon heat. Jack stepped off hastily, removing his helmet, and Arcee transformed. The source wasn’t directly visible, but she looked anyway in the direction of the Autobot base.


	5. Explosion

They approached from the east, steering clear of the nearby human settlement known as Jasper. Thirty aerial units, himself and Airachnid included, gave the mesa a pass while three Vehicons separated to touch down on top of the rocky structure. The rest followed his lead, coming in for a staggered landing where the remains of faint tire tracks connected the human road with the solid wall of the mesa.

At a glance the seams were nearly invisible, camouflaged by the natural crags. Starscream motioned toward one of the Vehicons and it began sweeping a scanner over the rock, quickly locating the exterior door panel underneath a boulder too heavy for a human to move. The boulder was hauled away and two Vehicons went to work on the mechanics that were hidden underneath.

Starscream’s optics darted around the entrance, looking for cameras or other sensors that would betray their position. None were immediately visible, but that almost made him more nervous. Without the ship’s cannons at hand, they lacked the firepower to attack the exterior of the base. Therefore, their entire operation hinged on getting inside as quickly and quietly as possible if they wanted any kind of advantage in taking the Autobots on their home turf. He snuck a glance at the troops out of the corner of his optic. The anticipation coming off of them was palpable, and a few checked to make sure their weapons were transforming properly. Airachnid hung back alongside them, blessedly keeping her thoughts to herself for the moment.

He’d briefed them all ahead of time. There were only two entrances to the base. Even though he’d never been allowed out the front, he knew very well what the entry tunnel looked like on the inside. The top entrance was smaller, leading into a narrow elevator shaft that would have forced them to funnel through one at a time. Considering the small size of the interior, the Autobots could focus their defenses to either one in a sparkbeat. So the bigger entrance was the winner.

He’d rejected Airachnid’s pincer suggestion, with half entering through the front and half through the back. Such a tactic was best used on large unsuspecting groups. With only four possible Autobots inside, it was much simpler and effective to simply enter through a single point and overwhelm their forces. The several Vehicons on the roof would be enough to stall them in the unlikely event of a retreat.

Though, if he was being honest with himself, a small fraction of the decision was made so Airachnid would not be in charge of the second squadron. Her rivalry with Arcee was well known to him and he couldn’t have her breaking off to pursue her own prey. Never mind the way the Vehicons seemed to prefer walking behind her in the halls leading to the hanger bay. Never mind the fact that the jet-form Decepticons in particular had always been _his_ to command. They’d stay in a single group only so Airachnid wouldn’t get distracted. He wasn’t petty.

“Lord Starscream, there’s something written here.” One of the Vehicons working on the control box was looking at the back of the panel they’d just pried off. “‘ _If you are reading this_ -‘” it began in a halting manner.

“Let me see that.” Starscream bent down to take the small square plate of metal that had been inserted alongside the circuit board for the door. It was a piece of scrap metal, tin maybe, definitely not part of the automatic door system. He flipped it over and was startled to find cybertronian script on the back, written with some kind of black marking ink. It had been a long time since he’d seen handwritten glyphs, so it took a moment to read the cramped symbols.

‘ _If you are reading this I can only assume that you’re here to finish what you started. As much as I wish it were not the case, I am not so naïve as to believe you wouldn’t lead a platoon of Decepticons to blow us sky high. Even though we do our best to honor Optimus Prime’s belief in compassion towards others, I cannot forgive you for betraying the trust you shouldn’t have received in the first place. I’m giving you one more opportunity. You can walk away from here without any further consequences, but this is your last chance.’_

His whole frame was tense and he nearly launched himself into the air when the same Vehicon who’d called him was suddenly at his side. “What is it?”

“Nothing!” he squawked.

He bent the scrap quickly in half and tossed it into the dirt alongside the road.

“It was just an old warning label. Is that door open yet?” he changed the subject and watched as the electrical crew finished altering the last few wires. 

She wanted him to walk away? Impossible. Not after pulling a full squadron of fliers away from repairs. Arranging upper-atmosphere entry for Airachnid’s helicopter form, allocating the resources to embark on a long range mission not only to take advantage of the Autobots weakened state, but also as a statement of his leadership... Not with 29 pairs of optics burning a hole in the back of his head. He was already here. It was too late to turn back. He collected himself as the pneumatic hiss of pistons sounded and a panel of rock slid down into the earth with surprising smoothness. Behind it, two vertically aligned blast doors parted to either side.

“Troops, into formation. Remember, go for the big one first,” he commanded, signalling the first group through.

“After you,” Airachnid’s mouth pulled into a smirk as she motioned for him to go.

Starscream’s jaw ticked and he felt his joints go from tense to nearly seizing at the suggestion made literally .2 nanoclicks before he was to follow the charge. Yes, according to _his_ _plan_ it was _his decision_ to follow immediately after the first five Vehicons. He swallowed his defiance and forced himself not to scream. First the letter from Arcee (probably), now Airachnid. He was on a mission. Now wasn’t the time to give in to her mind games.

“Why yes. I will go first. Thank you.” Every word used five times the effort it would have normally taken. He ducked through the doorway to join the charge, suppressing his animosity to deal with later.

There was a mighty crack followed by a thunderous cacophony of noise that overwhelmed his audio receptors. His optics shuttered as a tremendous cloud of rubble and dirt rushed past, pinging off his armored plating. The air shook around him along with several shouts, a few of which cut off too soon.

The tremors lasted but a moment, and he forced his optics open against the grit in the air and struggled to make sense of the shapes moving through the clouds of dust. A figure was running straight towards him! Instinctively he snatched the Immobilizer from its place at his hip and fired. A medium sized figure fell and slid to a halt before him. A Vehicon.

Two others stumbled out of the passageway, their plating dented and filthy as they turned back to look once they were a safe distance away. Starscream surveyed the shoulder high pile of rubble that now filled half of the corridor.

“What happened?”

“A cave-in. There was a sound and I think some kind of device flashed on the wall at the front of the group before the ceiling exploded.”

“A proximity sensor.” Airachnid joined them. It sounded like she was withholding laughter. “Maybe this will be fun after all.”

Starscream’s lip curled, and he shut her out of his thoughts. Cameras or not, any element of surprise they might have had was on a short timer. Now it was only a matter of taking advantage of the time it took their targets to organize themselves. “You four! Remove enough rock at the top for us to enter two at a time. Make it quick!”

“But Lord Starscream, some of the others got buried in the cave in-”

“If they’re not offline, we can dig them out later. Now get moving!”

The four it seemed were about to comply, but then halted, looking behind him. Starscream turned to see Airachnid scuttle past him to attack the cave-in with a whirling blur of appendages. Fallen rocks exploded away from her excavation point, no match for her drilling.

In a matter of seconds she had a sizable opening cleared and she fell back from her handiwork. “You heard our fearless leader, he said he wanted it done quickly.”

The Vehicons nearest to her gave a small salute and ran to clamber over the now waist-high pile of rubble, weapons drawn. Starscream scowled at her and followed suit, sparing a second to unfreeze the Vehicon he’d mistakenly targeted before.

He heard Airachnid speaking to some of the Vehicons near the back, telling them to keep the door open and secure after they passed through. He kept his optics locked forward, telling himself to be grateful for her drilling ability. And watching the door was a fine suggestion. Now wasn’t the time.

Clambering down the other side of the pile, Starscream repositioned himself so he was at the front of the group. The rest of his crew followed in a tight formation, piling quickly yet cautiously from the opening that Airachnid had cleared for them. The seeker kept his steps quick and light. Their element of surprise may be gone, but no use telegraphing their position at every turn. He sprung into the main room, the Immobilizer held at the ready, prepped to fire at the first sign of movement.

Nothing.

He looked around. The room was empty. And not just of Autobots.

The usual stacks of supply crates that were pushed up against the far wall were gone. Ratchet’s workbench sat empty, the space where the main computer terminal once stood showed a clear outline of concrete flooring that was cleaner than everything surrounding it. To the right lay the cavernous dead end hallway where the ground bridge used to be, even more hollow than usual without the main gate of the mechanism in its usual place.

They had… already left.

Something squirmed in the anxious stuttering of his spark, and although disquieted, he felt the tension that had been coiled inside him deflate, leaving him much smaller than before. He lowered the Immobilizer.

A voice called out behind him. “Fan the area. Search for signs of the Autobots.” Apparently Airachnid had made it into the room as well. He tore his gaze from the few pieces of human furniture that remained. Now it seemed he had time to address at least one of his issues.

“Who gave you permission to keep giving orders?” he growled.

“My apologies.” Airachnid held a servo to her chest and gave a small bow, holding it for just a tad too long. “I was just making sure your little mission goes smoothly for you.”

“Unless I’m mistaken, I never reinstated you as second in command. That position remains Knockout’s. Therefore it is not your job to make sure my ‘little mission’ goes smoothly. Your job is to provide backup once we engage the enemy. However, it appears the enemy is not present at the moment.” He gestured around the room. “Provide support outside. I want you to assist the others topside in keeping an eye out for any incoming vessels while I do a sweep of the interior.”

A flicker of satisfaction fueled him as he watched her smug expression melt away at being put on guard duty. He half expected her to protest, but she said nothing.

“Yes, my _lord_.” Transforming with a rustle of spider limbs and narrowed optics, she left without another word.

He waited until her insect-like body squirmed back through the hole before addressing the Vehicon nearest to him. “You, enlist the two at the door and see if you can’t recover any of the soldiers that were caught in the cave-in. You will also serve as a com relay to maintain a steadier connection with those outside. Everyone else, split into groups. Search for signs of the Autobots, but do so _carefully,_ ” he stressed. “If there was one trap, there’s bound to be more. Don’t touch anything until we know it’s safe.”

Starscream led the way and the rest of the Vehicons followed as instructed. Luckily the base was small, a fact he’d cursed during his stay, but made their current sweep all the easier. There were only three offshoots apart from the entry they’d come in from.

One was the small medical bay and restoration/cleaning chamber that could almost be considered a part of the main room. It was partially visible from the entrance. He saw a few of the Vehicons go to check it out.

Another doorway led to the main hall that housed both the private chambers and storage compartments behind large rolling doors. This hallway looped around to pass by the cargo elevator that led topside, the energon storage and processing units, past a few rooms with doors too small for standard Cybertronians, and finally back to the rec room that hooked up with the main area again.

_‘If you are reading this I can only assume that you’re here to finish what you started.'_

Starscream’s optics combed the surface of the walls and ceilings as he and the rest of the Decepticons made their way slowly through the halls, looking for anything that seemed out of place. A Vehicon holding the handheld scanner that was used at the entrance followed close at hand. It pinged a warning just as Starscream noticed the small sensor node a few doors into the main hallway. Once spotted it was a simple task to disarm.

The second sensor was better hidden near the energon tanks, but a fresh scrape in the flooring near the main tank was enough to catch the Seeker’s paranoid attention. Stepping over the cluster of cables that ran the length of the floor, he motioned one of the troopers over to where it was visible on the backside of the main tank, and it too was disarmed.

_‘I am not so naïve as to believe you wouldn’t lead a platoon of Decepticons to blow us sky high.’_

“Lord Starscream, there’s still energon in these tanks.”

“Don’t touch it. Even if we had the means to transport it back to the Nemesis, it’s a pittance to what we’ll be able to intake once we get back to mining. Steer clear of it,” he stressed. The Autobots always seemed to be low on resources. With how well cleaned out the rest of the place seemed, leaving a tank full of energon behind was suspicious. Perhaps they didn’t have enough spare cubes to transport all that they had?

“I want a third of you to fan out and patrol the halls. We’ve done good so far avoiding any more surprises, let’s keep it that way. The rest of you, start opening up the compartments and storage bays. Set aside anything that’s worth bringing back and alert me if there’s anything unusual.”

_‘I cannot forgive you for betraying the trust you shouldn’t have received in the first place. I’m giving you one more opportunity… but this is your last chance.’’_

Starscream returned to the main room, joining a pair of Vehicons that were keeping watch. The telltale sounds of rubble being dug through had ceased, and the path to the outside seemed more open than before. They must have finished their task and gone to guard the entrance like they’d been told. He looked down at the scuffed emblem emblazoned into the floor. It felt out of place in the barren room. Like an old sign that pointed to some place that didn’t exist anymore.

Squaring his shoulders, he began to take stock. The biggest installation that remained was the bulky human backup computer, so entrenched into the structure that it would have been impossible to take with even if the Autobots had wanted to. It was old even by human standards and he doubted they would have left anything of value on it. It probably ran like garbage. He’d check it last. The main server node was missing of course. It was at least semi portable and was what held all their vital data in the first place. Where it used to stand were some crates of scrap metal shoved up against the backup. Digging through the few pieces on top he found mostly rusted out chunks of aluminum and tin. He flipped one over before tossing it back onto the pile.

He looked at the bulky console that connected to the groundbridge tunnel via thick cables. Digging the tips of his digits into the seams, he yanked free a section of plating. Empty, save for the immaculately placed ports that were still welded to the sides of the casing. It made sense that they’d strip the place before they left. The antiquated human-based technology screamed of limited resources.

At the front of the caved in tunnel he heard the muffled yet familiar fwoosh of the front gate opening and his spark skipped a beat. Optics skimming his surroundings, he trimmed his wings and ducked behind the hollow groundbridge console, motioning for the two Vehicons nearby to assume cover as well. Footsteps approached from the entry hall and he readied his blaster. No one had sent a distress com. “Airachnid, there’s someone approaching from the outside. What’s your position?” he said in an urgent whisper.

Airachnid strode calmly into view and Starscream scoffed, rising to his feet.

“I told you to wait outside.” His arm blaster folded neatly back into place.

“It’s been over half a megacycle, clearly there’s no one here. Let’s get comfortable,” she smirked, joining him in the center of the room.

Starscream mumbled something along the lines of ‘-anything _but_ comfortable…’, which Airachnid seemingly didn’t hear.

“I left a few bots to keep the perimeter under lock. They’ll let me know of any activity within 10 clicks.” She picked up the small glass fronted box that the humans called a TV and turned it over in her palm, examining it. “Oh, sorry. They’ll let _you_ know.” She gave a laugh.

He grunted, doing his best to avoid even looking at her. “Whatever. The Autobots dismantled most of the main systems. I have some troops cutting open the vault door just in case they left something. I’m going to check on them. You can help scrounge for any extra scraps they left behind. Check the flooring compartments around the ground bridge entry, maybe there’s something useful that we can take for spare parts.”

He could forgo the computer for the time being. The Autobots weren’t stupid. They clearly didn’t leave in a rush, so chances were they’d scrubbed anything remotely compromising. He instead went to check in with the Vehicons on patrol. All quiet so far.

The feeling of traversing the cramped halls was infuriating familiar. He passed by the wall that Miko had claimed by virtue of scribbling human nonsense all over it, as well as the section of chewed out air ducts that apparently was a result of a scraplet infestation. Around the corner was the room the Autobots had housed him in. The door was open. He stepped inside to escape the activity of the hallway, taking a moment to collect himself. 

He closed his optics, and for a moment the sounds of the Vehicons going through the rooms became Ratchet working on some project. Any minute now, Bumblebee would knock and invite him to watch his and Bulkhead’s lobbing game. He shook off the memory and bent down to look behind the junked crates that remained stacked in the far corner of the small room. The few tools that he’d swiped were still here. He picked one of them up to examine it briefly.

"So I've been thinking." Starscream’s face twitched in disgust as Airachnid’s voice came over his comlink.

 _“Always a dangerous occurrence,”_ Starscream muttered to himself. He left the room.

“Since we didn’t find any Autobots here, what’s the next step?”

He sighed. “After grabbing anything of value, we’ll head back to the ship and continue repairs.”

“Speaking of, I haven’t gotten the grand tour, but is the rest of the place in as much shambles as the foyer? Was the design always this outmoded? Oh, sorry. I shouldn’t talk smack about it. Maybe that’s something you liked about it while you were staying here.”

Starscream rubbed at the side of his temple. “Do you actually have anything useful to report Airachnid? Your inane drivel is clogging up the airwaves.” 

He was at the storage tanks now. He nudged the cluster of cables running across the floor with the tip of his pede. Wires, fuel lines, presumably for distributing energy to other parts of the base. He didn’t remember there being quite this many before. To the left was the tank that they’d found and disarmed a sensor behind earlier. From there, the cables ran across the floor and along the right-hand wall, eventually disappearing into a small hole that was cut into the paneling.

“I’m still looking through the mess of stuff that they left. Junk mostly, but maybe I can find something worth the effort of flying 30 cybertronians manually through a planet’s atmosphere. Though I doubt It’ll be enough to make up for the energon expended.”

Starscream didn’t respond, all but blocking out her words as he used the tool he picked up in his room to start loosening the screws around the hole until he could grab hold and start prying with his servos.

Footsteps approached just as he loosened the first panel and he looked up to see a Vehicon stop and give a salute before giving a debrief. “We’ve finished going through the rooms you noted as private quarters and general storage. Nothing of value was found. The only items remaining were some old human furniture, junked canisters, and…”

“Have you checked the computer console yet?” Airachnid’s voice came over Starscream’s com again, interrupting the Vehicon.

“It’s trash,” Starscream replied curtly. “The Autobots took the main node with them.”

“You don’t have to be so short with me. I’m only trying to help. If you’re upset that the Autobots are gone, all you have to do is ask and I’ll gladly give you a moment to mope.”

“I think the atmospheric entry left your circuits fried,” he growled, dropping the panel and standing to join the Vehicon who shuffled awkwardly in place.

“You’re just jealous that I’m the one that got to be carried like a queen.”

“Lord Starscream?” Another trooper’s voice came from across the com. “Sorry to interrupt, but we’ve gotten into what appears to be the supply room.”

“What? Airachnid, I thought this was a private channel!”

“Oops.” Her smugness was suffocating.

He growled and turned off his com altogether. “This is the last mission I’m ever bringing her on,” he grumbled under his breath. The supply room was right next door. He hoped there was at least something in there to make this whole fiasco worthwhile.

* * *

Airachnid dropped the top piece of scrap back into the bin and went to the computer. Maybe Starscream didn’t think there was anything worth checking out, but then again he didn’t even seem that keen on coming here in the first place. Maybe if he hadn’t dragged his heels so much they’d have actually encountered some of the Autobots here. A pity.

She messed with some of the buttons and smiled as the old glass monitor flickered to life, displaying a boot up screen. That meant at the very least a working operating system. Starscream might have been all cozy with the Autobots, but that didn’t mean he knew all their secrets. The screen changed and a rectangular box appeared.

“A password? How quaint. Let’s see… A-u-t-o-b-o-t.” She tapped the letters into the keyboard and hit enter. A red error message popped up.

She smirked and drifted her gaze. “Not surprising. Not even the Autobots would be so foolish.” Something a little more particular maybe.

V-e-c-t-o-r-s-i-g-m-a

Error.

She tapped a digit to her chin. Who would have set up the password? Something more personal to them maybe?

T-a-i-l-g-a-t-e

Error. Attempts remaining: 0  
Enter the correct password to disengage

20

19

18

A scattering of quiet beeping echoed around the room. Her optics widened and she looked up to see pinpoints of flashing lights scattered around the upper walls and ceiling. The whole place was set to blow, taking down everyone inside with it!

17

* * *

16 drained transponders, an energon siphon, and a pair of homemade welding torches were the best items they’d found so far. At least it was something. He left the storage room, addressing the trio of Vehicons that waited outside.

“Box them up and get ready to go. We’re moving out in five.”

The Vehicons didn’t respond. The way they stood stock still looked as if they were getting a com call. Remembering he’d silenced his, he flicked it back on and was greeted by Airachnid yelling.

“-rigged to blow. Evacuate now!” He could hear the beginning of metal drilling rock before the audio cut out.

His optics widened, looking quickly to the hole he’d opened in the wall minutes prior. From this angle he could make out a series of lights flashing along the outside of a disk embedded within. 12 out of 20 lights were illuminated. The combination of misplaced elements in the base finally came together in a clear and dangerous picture. He could only imagine what the rest of the wall’s interiors looked like.

They’d all be buried alive.

9… 8… 7…

Several Vehicons were running in the direction of the front room. Towards the bottleneck that was the hall cave-in. There was no way they’d all be able to file through in time.

"Everyone follow me!" Starscream shouted as he transformed, panels of his jet form still falling into place as he blasted down the hall. The cargo elevator door was just ahead. He unlocked one of his missiles and let it fly, blowing the doors open ahead of him just in time for him to maneuver into the vertical tunnel. He could hear several of the Vehicons following in their jet modes a short distance behind him. A flash of light overtook his senses and the sound of their engines was drowned out by the buffeting force of the blast. He felt his topside scrape violently against the elevator shaft, ripping his vertical stabilizer off. Any pain that might have been felt was dulled by the searing heat that melted away his pain receptors.

_Almost out…_

The tunnel groaned around him and an extra boost of speed poured fire from his thrusters to join the heat below.

A second later he burst into the searing midday sky.


	6. Fallout

Starscream groaned and opened his optics. Black static crackled and warped like smoke across his vision and he squeezed his optics shut in an effort to recalibrate them. He opened them again. The static had cleared, but the smudges of black smoke remained, shifting and obscuring the stark blue canvas of a sky. He watched it for a moment with bleary optics and finally identified the roaring sound that was cutting in and out as flames. Apparently something was wrong with his audio processors. Fantastic.

He lay sprawled on his back in the rocky soil. When had he transformed out of his vehicle mode? He couldn’t recall. With effort, he pushed himself into a sitting position and almost fell immediately onto his face as his equilibrium sensors struggled to read his surroundings. He rested momentarily with his servos planted firmly on the ground while he waited for the horizon to stop spinning.

He felt a wet trickle running down the thruster on his back and recalled his impact with the elevator shaft. His systems were already shutting down the flow of energon to the missing vertical stabilizer fin, but he’d need to get that tended to as soon as possible. Hopefully it wouldn’t mess with his flight too much.

“Lord Starscream.” Oh, apparently his audio had rebooted. Airachnid’s voice was as welcome as a rusted actuator. “The humans are on their way. I’m escorting the troops back to the ship. See you in orbit.”

 _They were leaving him!_ He managed to sit up proper and quickly turned his attention to the skies. He thought he could barely make out the forms of several aircraft gaining altitude before they winked out of view. He cursed. For all she knew he could be grounded, bleeding out from his graceless landing outside the exploded remains of the Autobot base.

 _She would be overjoyed if that were the case._ He thought, without revelation.

He pushed himself up off the ground and stood wearily. He’d crashed a ways away from the mesa but he was still close enough to feel the heat of the flames that chewed angrily at the walls, incinerating the sparse scrubby bushes that clung dryly to the cracks in the stone. A large portion of the structure was caved in. 

He tested his wings, making sure they were ready for flight. The smoke was a beacon to Autobots and humans alike. He thought he could already hear the steady chop of helicopters in the distance, and with his missing vertical stabilizer he wasn’t going to take any chances with human military forces. The faster he could leave the better.

With a grunt he initiated transformation, wincing at the sharp shooting pain of the damaged parts locking roughly into place at the back of his alt-mode. Despite everything he made it into the air, scorched fuselage and all, and angled towards the upper atmosphere.

* * *

One bumpy flight later he stalked exhausted from the airlock, his injured back burning at the change in air pressure. At least it wasn’t actively leaking anymore. He’d made sure of that before exiting the planet’s atmosphere. His blackened peds hit the ground heavily. Airachnid first, medbay second. He wondered if she even had a scratch on her.

He found her near the bridge along with several of the dusty Vehicons that had accompanied them planetside. A few looked guiltily in the direction of his haggard approach.

“Starscream,” she almost purred. “good to see you back in one piece.”

“One piece only because I did not have time to search the wreckage for my missing tailfin,” he spat angrily, glowering at her. “I’m lucky I was near an exit when the Autobots’ explosive setup was triggered. How did that happen by the way?”

She shrugged. “You must not have found all the sensors. Quite ingenious to conceal them at multiple points.”

“Quite,” he agreed flatly. Starscream looked around the room. “Where are the rest of the fliers that came with us planetside?”

“This is all that made it out,” she said with the barest hint of regret. “I was debriefing everyone when you stormed in.”

“Over two thirds!” His wings flared angrily and he winced. “This was a pointless waste of resources.” He looked over the measly six bots that stood behind Airachnid and thought back to all the Vehicon they’d left behind. There hadn’t been any distress beacons.

“Agreed. It’s a shame we couldn’t spend more time stripping the place. My bots found some good stuff near the end while you were investigating the back halls.”

“Your-?”

She cut him off. “Come look at these EM assemblies that we cut out of the inside of their ground bridge tunnel.” Stiffly he approached, gritting his teeth. “They’re a little crude and they won’t replace the missing part of our ground bridge, but they should help with fixing some ports that were fried on the starboard side of the ship.”

Starscream looked out of obligation, leaning over the table. It looked like junk to him. He felt something brush against his outer thigh plating, light as a gust of breeze.

“Wha- get your hands off me!” Starscream spun around, smacking her arm away from him. Something flew from her servo at the impact and they both watched the Immobilizer clatter to the floor at the side of the room.

Starscream glanced at her before lunging for the item. Two mechanical spider legs struck his side, sending him careening to the floor. All six appendages hit the floor in succession and a shadow passed over him, travelling in the direction of the Immobilizer. Stretching out with both arms, he latched onto two of her legs and pulled her down to join him on the floor. She craned her neck back to look at him and jabbed a sharp appendage at his head. He rolled and felt it glance off his shoulder.

“What are you just standing there for?” Starscream shouted at the small group of flying Vehicons that stood pressed against the wall, watching from a distance. They glanced nervously at each other, but did not move from their spot.

“What, you need backup to bail you out?” Airachnid taunted. “Newsflash, no one wants you as leader. Megatron made _me_ second in command after you decided you didn’t want to be a part of the group anymore. The only reason you wormed your way back into the top was because _you_ let the Autobots onboard and they incapacitated half the crew. And what have you done since? Let Soundwave cripple the ship, leave for days at a time, make everyone else clean up your mess? For all we know, you’re still getting cozy with the Autobots. You probably tipped them off to leave their base before we arrived.”

“You dare accuse me of selling out-?” Starscream pushed himself to his feet, posture hunched and claws bared as he paced opposite to his opponent. His optics locked on the way she lifted herself and stepped lightly with her six spindly limbs. The Immobilizer lay off to one side, spaced evenly from both of them.

“I do,” she interrupted vehemently. “Megatron is gone, Soundwave has fled. What’s more, you have none other than Optimus Prime in lockup and you haven’t so much as unfrozen him. You think the universe is out to get _poor Starscream_ , but it’s _you_ that’s dragging everyone down while you flounder like a directionless sparkling. So I’m liberating you of your post. We’re ending this here and now.”

Starscream bared his teeth. “Fine. It will be my pleasure to finally be rid of you.”

Three blasts of webbing shot from Airachnid’s palms and Starscream ducked, pivoting on his heel to avoid the fibrous substance. In the brief moment that his eyes left his opponent she had moved. He whipped his head in the direction of the staccato clatter of limbs on metal and saw her making a dash towards the Immobilizer. He still had one missile left. Starscream threw up his arm and fired. The air shuddered as fire blossomed at the point of impact. The watching Vehicons cried out in alarm and the force of the enclosed blast made Starscream stagger back several feet.

Smoke swirled violently, obscuring the area around the impact. Starscream cycled air through his heated intakes, trying to get a read on his opponent. He could hear voices in the halls outside the room shouting something about another attack. A door opened to his left.

“What’s going on in here!”

Starscream turned his head to see Breakdown push into the room, waving a large servo through the smoke as if to clear it.

A blast of webbing shot down from above, plastering the lower portion of Starscream’s leg to the floor. Another web, this time pinning an arm to his side. Airachnid dropped from the ceiling, catching his free arm before he could activate his blaster and dropped him to the ground with her weight. Her prey effectively pinned, she arched two limbs behind her head, poised to strike with claws glistening in acid.

Starscream’s optics widened. “Wait wait! I yield!” The break in his voice was familiar, yet just as humiliating as the times he’d had no choice but to submit to Megatron.

Airachnid scoffed. “You wouldn’t. You’re too prideful to submit so easily. Even if you were to relinquish command to me right now, you’ll be a constant thorn in my side, just waiting to dig your wretched claws into my spark.” She gave a vicious smile. “At least, that’s what I would do. So in the name of survival, I’m settling this n

.

.


	7. Reconnecting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ((Author's Note: Sorry for two rather short chapters back to back. I promise the next one has some more meat on it!))

“Hi, Bee! Can you see me?”

Raf smiled at his computer screen and waved at Bumblebee on the other end. Behind him Raf could see the large circular room that was their new base of operations, an empty water storage facility. The bot exuberantly returned the greeting with both hands.

“Yes!” Raf celebrated, sitting back in his chair. “That wasn’t too bad. All I had to do was update my encryption to account for your new location. Now we don’t have to text each other to talk. How are you settling into the new place?”

“Biibii-bwooee~” It was still a mess, Bumblee communicated, going on to say that he missed the segmented floor plan of the old base. This one was too open, and also he’d already bumped into like five of the support pillars.

Raf laughed. “I guess there aren’t that many abandoned missile silos around anymore, huh? I remember you said that Fowler helped arrange for some construction work on the old base, can he do the same for this one?”

Bee let out the equivalent of an ‘I guess.’ Better than camping in a parking lot for who knows how long. If only they didn’t have to move in the first place.

“Still no sign of the Decepticons on your end? I’ve been trying to do some reconnaissance too, but I didn’t get very far. The GSA radio telescope upped their security since last time.”

“Bwap!” Raf, you what?!

Raf grimaced. “Don’t worry, I didn’t probe too hard. Once I saw that I couldn’t get in, I didn’t stick around to let them figure out I was there.” He brought up a hand, unconsciously adjusting his glasses and crinkling his nose a bit to get them into the right spot. “You said that Ratchet hasn’t picked up on any ambient transwarp energy since the incident right? So that means they’re still nearby! We just have to figure out where, then Ratchet can bridge you guys back up there to rescue Optimus.”

Bumblebee corrected him, saying that wasn’t necessarily a sign that they were still on or orbiting Earth. It just meant that they hadn’t used a ground bridge or a space bridge.

“Oh.” Raf’s expression faltered. “Well… they’re probably still around. There was a period where they were silent for a whole three years before, right? A week’s not that bad in comparison,” he offered.

Bumblebee let out a doleful tone and Raf wished he could think of something else to cheer him up. There was motion in the background as the cargo bay doors opened to let Bulkhead in and Bee turned to beep out a greeting.

“Hi Bulkhead!” Raf greeted him enthusiastically, hoping he was visible from across the room. He wasn’t sure how big a screen he was being viewed on. Bulkhead joined his friend at the console.

“What, you guys have the camera up and running already? Miko’s gonna be so stoked! Er, well, she would be if she wasn’t mad at me…”

“Bwoeeoo?”

“She’s mad that we can’t hang out anymore. I told her that I’m not happy about it either, but she won’t even text me back,” he said, his shoulders sagging.

“So that’s what it is,” said Raf. “She’s been ignoring Jack and me at school too. She said we were being ‘too complicit’. I know you guys didn’t leave on purpose though.”

Bumblebee nodded furiously, saying that once they were able to replenish a big enough energon buffer they’d be able to use the ground bridge to visit more often. After it was set up anyway.

“That’d be great!”

“You’re telling me,” Bulkhead chimed in. “I can’t wait to do something other than energon scouting duty. Even if it means helping Ratchet set up that bridge tunnel all over again. Not only is it boring, it feels wrong to do such a mundane task while Optimus is… uh, missing.”

“Brrrp?” Bumblebee raised an eyebrow at him, questioning his choice of words.

“I don’t like the way ‘captured’ sounds. And technically we don’t know his location, so...”

Raf watched as Bumblebee just rolled his optics. He guessed he would let them both cope in their own way. “If there’s anything I can help with, let me know, okay?” he offered. “Where’s everyone else?”

“Arcee’s out for a drive. Ratchet used his Doctor Privileges to tell her to take the day off to de-stress. And the doc himself is with Fowler I think? He said something about needing to make sure in person that the new equipment we were getting was up to snuff.” He paused, considering. “Fowler’s gonna need a whole week off after that outing.”

Bumblebee chortled and added that the replacements were mostly for the integrated communications equipment they had to leave behind at the last place. At the moment they had limited bandwidth.

“Oh… Are you sure it’s okay for me to be calling you?” Raf asked uncertainly.

A loud series of car horn beeps came from behind them and both Bumblebee and Bulkhead watched Ratchet pull into the container. Raf caught a glimpse of Bumblebee’s guilty expression before his large servo quickly covered the camera.

“So  _ that’s _ the reason I haven’t been able to get through to you, Bumblebee. We only have one secure line in or out of this place, and your social call is tying it up,” Ratchet admonished from offscreen.

Bee half sighed, half sung a tone of resignation, uncovering the video feed.

“Hi Ratchet,” Raf said sheepishly.

“Hello Raphael,” Ratchet sighed. “Say goodbye to Bumblebee. We need to keep the communications line open until I can get the new relays set up. We can’t rely on our usual channels until we make sure that Starscream doesn’t have access to the ones we were using around him.”

Bumblebee centered himself on the screen again and beeped out a sorrowful goodbye.

“It’s okay, Bee. I’ll talk to you later!”

The call ended.

“How was your field trip?” Bulkhead asked Ratchet.

“Short,” he responded simply. “Agent Fowler had to leave half way through to run damage control. The old Autobot Central Command was destroyed.”

“What?” Bulkhead exclaimed. “No way! Was it Starscream?”

“There’s been no confirmation, but who else would it be?”

“I didn’t think he’d actually do it.”

“And why not? He is a Decepticon after all,” Ratchet said pragmatically.

“Well, yeah. I just thought that...ah, forget it,” Bulkhead trailed off.

“I need to contact Arcee. She said she was going to visit Jack. I’m worried at how close she was to the incident… for more reasons than one.”

He took his place at the console and started typing in Arcee’s frequency, but an alert tone interrupted him. A voice came through the computer. “Ratchet, you there?”

“Agent Fowler,” Ratchet remarked, surprised. “Do you have news on what triggered the explosion?” he asked eagerly.

“I thought you would have already heard the details.” A note of disapproval was evident in the human’s tone. “‘ _ Sadie’ _ is here trying to do an investigation alongside my boys. I already have a Rushmore sized mountain of damage control to do on account of the Cons, I don’t need a masked, motorcycle-bound shadow puppet adding more presidents!”

“I was just about to contact her. I’ll see what I can do, Agent Fowler.”

Bulkhead and Bumblebee shared a concerned look as Ratchet dialed in Arcee.

“Arcee. I need you to come back to the base. The  _ current _ base,” Ratchet stressed.

“Fowler called you.” It was a rhetorical question.

“Even if he didn’t I would still request you return. Agent Fowler is more than capable of handling investigative affairs once he gets the site under control. He can’t do that while you’re there.”

“I found some Cybertronian scrap metal.”

“Arcee…”

There was a period of silence.

“...I’ll start the drive back,” she finally said. The communication ended.

Ratchet sighed, resting his servos on the console’s keyboard for a moment. “Bulkhead, Bumblebee. I want to get the groundbridge supports set up tonight. Will you two assist me?”

* * *

Dusk was beginning to fall when Arcee rolled into the new base. Ratchet was knelt low to the ground, built-in welder sending sparks flying, while Bulkhead and Bumblebee held a support ring steady. The sound of her engine cut off followed by her shifting into robot mode.

A piece of metal hit the ground next to him and his optics flicked to it briefly before bringing his focus back to finish up the joint he was working on. Once he was satisfied it was sturdy enough, he withdrew his welder and picked up the piece she’d dropped, pushing himself to his feet with a grunt.

“Found that at the site. Look familiar?” Arcee gestured.

Ratchet examined the triangular shape, looking past the sizable dents and charring on the surface with a practiced eye. The piece was flat, silvery grey, and tapered with an aerodynamic curve on one edge.

“A flight stabilizer?” Ratchet surmised.

“Starscream’s. He was there and he got away.” Arcee’s optics were full of vitriol.

“I can’t imagine how. Fowler made it sound like the entire structure was leveled,” he said with an edge of disapproval to his voice.

“Everyone agreed that precautions should be put in place when we left,” she challenged. “Seeing as he was there, it's a good thing we did.”

“It was meant as a backup, in case we needed to dispose of any sensitive equipment that we couldn’t move. What you set up was a death trap,” He said sharply. “We need to start going about this delicately, not by exploding an entire mesa only 15 miles from a human city!”

She gestured down at the wing piece. “But this proves that Starscream is actively working against us now!”

“So? That doesn’t change the fact that we’re down to four bots, without a leader, in a shelter that barely functions as a base of operations. We need to focus on rebuilding and preparing for the future, not guerilla warfare. It’s what Optimus would want.”

“You make it sound like he’s already dead.”

“I’m-” Ratchet stopped. “It’s... easier than being wrong about the alternative,” he said, turning his head away.

Arcee fell quiet, and similarly averted her optics from her comrade’s vulnerable state. After a moment, she looked over at Bumblebee and Bulkhead who watched from near the ground bridge support they’d been working on. “We’re all doing the best we can,” she finally said. “Including you. I guess we’re all falling apart a little bit without Optimus here.”

Ratchet met her gaze once again. “I suppose so,” he agreed. “We’ll just have to make it work.”

An awkward silence fell between them and Arcee turned her attention to the few pieces of framework that had been erected in the time she’d been gone. 

“It looks like you’ve got a good start on the ground bridge. Need another set of hands?”

Ratchet set the piece of tail assembly aside. “I’ll take all the help I can get,” he said gratefully. “Let’s get started.”


	8. Revival

The first time he regained consciousness lasted for all but a few seconds. The only thing that registered was pain from the bottom of his pedes to the top of his helm as all sensory receptors sent peaked readings from throughout his chassis. What followed were several more instances of waking to the sensation of his component parts shredding from the inside out. Each time losing consciousness was a blessed relief...

He awoke again. And even through his sluggish processor he was obliged to admit that the ache which rested in his joints like corroded metal filings was at least a tolerable one now. Any kind of self-diagnostics were offline, and even his most basic systems chugged to function at minimum. It felt like his body had been chewed on by Unicron himself before being spat into a scrap heap.

Past his internal awareness, the world around him was a mystery. His optics were shuttered, that much he could tell. The mere thought of opening them made him feel sick. At least it was quiet. The thrum in his processor was thankful for that. He could do little more than lay and wait for whatever this was to subside.

Time passed. How much, he wasn’t sure. His systems ticked unpleasantly, but eventually he managed to open his optics a crack to make out the narrow section of ceiling above him. Simple paneling, unadorned save for the dimmed light fixtures. Judging by the proportions, the room was only a few paces longer than he was. He swiveled his head a fraction to the left and saw a simple berth jutting from the wall above him. Straining his optics rather than move his head further, he saw a sturdy looking door with a small window in it dominating the wall past his blackened pedes.

He was in a cell.

Every joint creaked in protest. He tried to move his servos but found his left arm restrained at his side. Forcing his head to look down, he saw a white stringy residue resembling an organic substance. It was regrettably familiar. With a grunt of effort, he began to tear Airachnid’s webbing off in chunks with his free hand. Every movement sent a new wave of discomfort through his frame.

The last thing he remembered…

The last thing he remembered was… facing down against Airachnid in the command room. She had seemed intent on killing him. He recalled begging briefly, something he felt he should have been more humiliated over but he couldn’t muster up the energy right now.

What happened after that? Was he knocked out?

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t recall. Instead he took his time getting his bearings. The cell and hall outside were quiet, so he was content to take his time slowly wriggling each limb to get more feeling back into his extremities. Slowly but surely, he was reassured by the steady improvement of his symptoms.

After an hour he finally managed to rise from the floor and drag himself over to the small window at the door. It was as he suspected; he was in the primary cellblock used onboard the Nemesis. All of the cells that were visible were empty save for one. The red light of Optimus Prime’s occupied cell shone across and one down from his own. Starscream couldn’t see from this angle, but he knew that inside the Prime would be stuck frozen in the same running position that he’d been immobilized in, strapped firmly to the berth. Not to restrain, but so that his body wouldn’t shift and sustain damage if the ship experienced some kind of turbulence.

Starscream’s legs trembled with effort from standing and he slid back to the floor, repositioning himself so that he could lean against the wall next to the door.

“I guess it’s just you and me huh?” he said in a low voice. He snorted. “Some company. You probably hate me. But… here I am. Locked up just like you on my very own ship.” He paused. “ _ Not _ my ship in the end. I couldn’t even get that part right.”

He took a moment to cycle some air through his systems. It felt stale.

"This whole thing is your fault you know." He accused, giving the door to his cell a sidelong glare as if he expected an apology. "It all trails back to you and your stupid Autobots. If you hadn't made the case for keeping me around, things would have never gone so far. Instead of being locked up I’d be paving my own destiny, beholden to no faction, my own master! With limitless possibilities I’d…”

_ I’d do what? _ A frown befell his features.  _ Live in some Earth forest or human airfield? Leave the planet? I wouldn’t be able to make it past the nearest orbiting body without a ship. _ He heaved himself backwards in frustration, hitting roughly against the wall behind him. A stab of pain shot up his back and he hissed. Right, his missing vertical stabilizers. Airachnid really didn’t give a scrap when she had him thrown in here did she?

The pain subsided and he stayed pressed up against the surface, optics squeezed tightly shut. His frame still felt weak, but he needed to keep speaking. Even if it was to no one but himself. He didn’t want the words in his head any longer.

“I don’t know if I ever told you, I really did appreciate the attention that I was given when I was taken in by the Autobots. That amount of… care is rarely demonstrated by the Decepticons.” He tilted his head at the cramped room. “But you and your team gave me medical aid, times to work alongside you on the field, a receptiveness to my opinions…” He trailed off. The words wanted to die on his tongue. “A chance to be recognized…”

He couldn’t finish.

He cleared his throat. “I suppose you’re wondering why I did it? What was so important that I had to go back to Megatron and drag everything into the scrapper?” He hesitated, searching for the right words. In the end, none of them seemed satisfactory.

“What am I saying? You can’t hear me. Even if you could, what would I say? ‘So I know I betrayed you and everything you stand for, but how about we put our differences behind us and agree on a future where Decepticons reign over Cybertron?’" He grimaced before prattling on.

“I actually have a good head for management, believe it or not. It certainly isn’t Megatron who makes sure the troops are equipped and who knows where they’re supposed to be and when they’re supposed to be there. Sure it’s been a little rough lately, and nothing seems to be going according to plan. I can see why some opinions of me might be shaken after recent events. I mean, I _did_ kill Megatron.” He didn’t dare say the word ‘ _hopefully’_ out loud. “Really though, he had it coming.”

He fell silent for a moment. “I never could tell if you actually wanted to kill Megatron. He wanted  _ you _ dead for sure, and I don’t think he could fathom why you wouldn’t want the same. In his mind there was nothing sweeter than a glorious fight to the death, to prove through combat that he was right and that you were wrong. The Pits of Kaon may be destroyed, but the gladiator lived on.”

The dim cell lights glowed steadily above him and he shifted so he was facing away from the door. The thought briefly crossed his mind that he should be looking for a way out of his cell, but the idea was so unappealing it made his already queasy insides twist into a tight knot. As a longtime resident of this ship he knew that the cells were nigh inescapable. No one got out unless there was some sort of mistake in disarming, or faulty guardsmenship. Just as well, he thought bitterly. There was no place among the Decepticons for him anymore. No place on this planet for him.

Growing stiff from his time on the floor, he eventually pulled himself up onto the berth, thoughts ripping through his head like a sand filled gale. He curled his body into the least objectionable position possible, but the deep recharge he so desperately wanted wouldn’t come until hours later.

* * *

It was nearly three solar cycles before anyone came to check on him, as best he could gather anyway. His internal clock still seemed a little out of sync from when he’d awoken. It must have hiccupped at some point while he was out. In addition, his energon levels were dipping dangerously towards stasis lock. The effort of atmospheric entry and exit coupled with his injury and the fight with Airachnid left him feeling drained, despite his only activity since being to stand and pace the five steps it took to get from one wall to another.

For the past few hours he’d been slumped on the edge of his berth, chin resting heavily on his servo which in turn was propped up with his elbow on one knee. He might as well be in stasis. He’d exhausted all desire for cognitive thought several short recharges ago.

The cell block door whooshed open in the distance and muffled voices of two bots speaking down the hall reached his audio receptors. One of them was probably the guard who was posted just outside the cell area. Heavy footsteps approached and a familiar rust colored face appeared in the small door window.

“Oh. You’re finally awake!” Distorted slightly through the door’s automatic speaker system, Breakdown’s voice sounded surprised.

Starscream didn’t rise from his seat. He tilted his head with minimal effort to look up at the small opening through the side of his vision. “Breakdown.”

“Thought maybe you were never going to thaw out. I almost asked Knockout to come perform an autopsy, but he didn’t seem concerned.” He peered through the glass, watching the seeker intently when he didn’t respond. “Hey, are you alright?”

Starscream had gone back to staring at the wall across from him, still perched on the edge of his berth. “Peachy,” he mumbled.

“I brought some energon. Thought you might need some.”

Starscream hummed in acknowledgment as Breakdown inserted the cube into a device that would port the contents through to the inside of the cell.

The blue mech watched through the tiny window for Starscream to accept the energon, but the seeker didn’t move. He frowned. “You could at least say thank you,” he muttered before continuing. “A lot’s happened while you were out. Lord Airachnid,” he said the title with a note of sourness, “has been working hard as the new leader. She’s pushing the energon mines now.”

Starscream’s eyebrows furrowed, optics finally sharpening. “Mining energon, on Earth? We made it back into the atmosphere?”

“Yeah, the ship’s repaired, or at least functional. It took a while. The first week or so was mostly quiet as far as I heard. I was locked up for a few days too, so I had to get a summary from Knockout. I think Airachnid was having trouble shifting things into new management. She seemed in a tizzy when I was released. And Knockout by extension was about ready to fling himself into space,” he chuckled.

“Anyway, a few more days of relay maintenance, wire replacements, then all of a sudden we must have passed the threshold to get past whatever bug Soundwave put in the system. Main generator came back online. About a week after that, that Vehicon you froze on the bridge came to. Just about gave Knockout a spark attack. We didn’t know the effects could just wear off like that. It was kind of a relief actually. I figured the same might apply to you. Then after that-”

Starscream frowned. The time frames weren’t adding up. Breakdown’s list of events that had transpired while he was unconscious kept growing. He had assumed he was out for half a solar cycle at most, but now the pieces started to align themselves in his head and he sat up straighter.

“I was immobilized.” He finally made eye contact with Breakdown. “How long?” he demanded.

“24 solar cycles. Airachnid had you pinned. She was going to kill you, so I incapacitated you before she got the chance.”

“24 solar cycles! I was allowed to lay inert for 24 solar cycles!?” Something Ratchet had said tugged at Starscream’s memory banks. Something about how the larger and more complex the target, the longer it took for the Immobilizer’s effects to wear off. His thoughts flicked unbidden to the cell across the hall where Optimus Prime assumedly still lay inert. And Megatron- He pushed the thought from his mind.  _ “ _ And no one bothered to resuscitate me?”

“The Immobilizer was… damaged.” Breakdown shifted uncomfortably before shrugging. “It didn’t seem like something Airachnid should have and I guess it just wasn’t built to stand up to someone with hammers for hands.”

A small chuckle found its way to Starscream’s throat. “What was that saying? An eye for an eye?” Starscream looked up at the window, the shadow of a grim smirk pulling at half of his face.

Breakdown reached up, fingering the edge of his optic patch. “I don’t think that’s quite the right usage…”

A silence fell between them before Breakdown spoke again, but Starscream had already tuned him out.  _ 24 solar cycles. _ He tried to wrap his mind around the implications. So much had happened without him. And it was business as usual aboard the Decepticon warship. It sounded like Airachnid was running things just fine. Did anyone even notice his absence? At least Breakdown seemed to care enough to check up on him.

“Mining’s been the top priority for the past decacycle. We’re in transit between sites right now. That’s how I was able to slip away for a bit. She’s working everyone to the bolt. Guess that’s something you two have in common.”

“Don’t compare me to her,” Starscream said automatically.

Breakdown shrugged. “I’ve been trying to convince Knockout that she’s up to something.”

_ No slag _ . Starscream resisted the urge to roll his optics. It was Airachnid, she always had all eight limbs in business where they didn’t belong. He felt a momentary satisfaction that Breakdown seemed to be taking more issue with Airachnid’s leadership than his own brief term. The feeling was short-lived however as Breakdown droned on. It was all so tiring. He sighed and leaned back.

“He didn’t disagree, but neither of us are in a position to do much about it. She’s nearly shunted us out of the command structure. She only values blind obedience. One wrong step for anyone and she sics her most loyal soldiers on them. We’ve managed to stay in her good graces so far, but she made her conditions clear when she dismembered one of the troopers who had the ball bearings to liken her taking you down to you taking down Megatron. Needless to say, she’s keeping a close eye on Knockout and I. Probably deciding if we’re more trouble than we’re worth. I’m risking my neck visiting you here.”

“Why?”

“Huh?” Breakdown’s brow furrowed in confusion. “I… had to check to see if you were awake,” he said as if he thought the answer should be obvious.

“Well, I am. So you can leave now.”

“I thought you’d be interested in what was going on.”

“I’m stuck in a tiny box on a ship where it doesn’t even matter if I’m alive or dead. Current events don’t really concern me anymore. You said it yourself, dissenters get offlined, and I would have been the first to go if you hadn’t interfered.”

“Would you rather I didn’t?”

Starscream didn’t answer.

He sat very still, taking time to formulate his words. “I was a prisoner of the Autobots not too long ago. It might not have been a cell like this one, but I was a prisoner nonetheless. They cuffed me, took my wings, shut me in a room. Eventually they allowed me the use of my servos and the luxury of roaming their halls as I pleased. I think they thought it a kindness, but once the novelty of it wore off it was nearly suffocating. Unable to leave. Unable to fly.

“And now I am confined to a room where I can’t take more than three paces before having to turn around, where I am unable to transform without my wings crushing into the walls, reliant on whoever remembers to bring me energon. And say I was released by some whim, either by Airachnid’s decision or by fate, I think it’s been made fairly clear that no one wishes to follow me. I lost that fight in every sense of the word. You may have prevented my spark from being extinguished, but am I truly alive in this cell?”

“I didn’t take you for a philosopher,” Breakdown stated after a pause.

Starscream glared. He just poured his spark out and that’s all he had to say? “I’ve had a lot of time to think.”

“I also didn’t take you for a quitter.”

Head held low, Starscream’s glower deepened. If Breakdown’s only reason for being here was to insult him, he didn’t have anything more to say.

“I was thinking about letting you out,” Breakdown finally admitted. His hushed words barely made it through the relay com.

Starscream let out the breath of a laugh. “Is she really that bad you need  _ me _ to come take her place? I’m not some hound to be released to take out whoever leads the Decepticons.”

“I’ll leave you to rust then. I thought you’d jump at the chance.”

“I don’t like being in debt,” Starscream said bitterly.

“What, you can’t handle someone being nice to you? Not everyone’s a conniving spawn of Unicron.”

Starscream turned away. Everyone had ulterior motives; it was a fact that had been forged into his existence time and time again. It was all a game of give and take. If you were lucky you got to be the one calling the shots, if not, you made yourself useful, desirable to others so they would in return provide that same usefulness to you. It was why Megatron kept him around. He was a skilled flier and commander, with good attention to detail and oft ignored tactical advice. And when he got out of line, Megatron made sure it didn’t last. So he had remained useful.

And the Autobots, they wanted him for information. A means to an end that was more convenient to have nearby. They were ‘nice’ because it kept him compliant, because they expected a returned payoff. Airachnid ‘helped’ him with the base mission so she could undermine and dispose of him. And now Breakdown was offering to release him, presumably so he could take the brunt of Airachnid’s machinations. He’d made good on his debt by supposedly stopping Airachnid from taking him offline, and look how well that was paying off.

When Starscream didn’t respond, Breakdown let out a cycle of air. “We’re thinking about making a move soon. Primus knows me and Knockout could use an ally, but I’m not risking my aft coming back here unless I know you want out.” He looked like he was ready to go.

“I suppose I can help in your desertion. I can see why you would need my assistance.”

Breakdown shook his head incredulously. “That wasn’t the question. We don’t  _ need  _ your help. Do  _ you want _ to be let out?”

Starscream could feel Breakdown’s yellow-eyed stare beating into the side of his head.

_ What I want? _

“Maybe I shouldn’t have even bothered coming.” Breakdown began to walk away from the door.

He might not get another chance to leave for stellar cycles. Maybe he’d be the first in millennia to figure a way out of the high security cells. Build some kind of tool out of his own body to escape. Or Airachnid would get bored of his incarceration, and one day decide his fate for him; whether it be death or something more humiliating. Or maybe he’d remain confined, living on rationed energon until he went into stasis lock once it was decided he wasn’t worth the waste of resources. Perhaps a millennia from now he’d wind up floating amid the wreckage of the warship, shut down and unaware, only to perish an indeterminate amount of time later. The options ranged from death to slow anguish.

The only certain option was walking away. His insides screamed at him.  _ Last chance. _

“Wait!” Starscream stood, his legs still weak from the residual effects of the Immobilizer. He grabbed onto the edges of the window, locking optics with Breakdown who had turned back to look at him.

“I… want to come with.”


	9. Departure

“Wakey wakey! You up?” There was a confirmation beep and Starscream’s cell door was flung open. Breakdown stood poised with one servo clamped firmly over the area where the panel had slid into the wall, as if he thought it might attempt to close again.

Starscream scrambled to an upright position, suddenly very alert. Was it happening already? This was sooner than he’d thought. Luckily he had been doing his best to prepare. Every day testing his legs, his wings, making sure he would be able to keep up.

“Got anything stashed away, grab it, we’re not coming back,” Breakdown announced.

“Like what?” Starscream asked reflexively.

“I dunno. Skivs, homebrew explosives, digging utensils…”

“Who do you take me for?”

Breakdown shrugged. “You never know.” He moved out of the doorway allowing Starscream to creep from his cell, a small part of him expecting this to be a trick.

“Wait,” he said and Breakdown stopped, following his gaze to the cell door marked occupied across the hall. Starscream ran over, peering in through the small viewport. Prime was still strapped to the berth, optics closed. Still intact.

Breakdown joined him, then shook his head. “I’m not carrying him. And I doubt  _ you _ could lift a bot that size. We can’t afford dead weight.”

“Did someone move him since I had him put away?” Starscream’s faceplate pressed up against the glass.

”I dunno. Don’t think so. We need to go.”

Starscream lingered for a moment, but Breakdown was right. He’d tried thinking of ways the Autobot leader might be pried from Airachnid’s clutches when the time came to escape, but there was already too much in between them and the exit. 

“Give me the cell key.”

“What are you-?”

“Just give it!”

Breakdown handed it over and Starscream used it to unlock the door, but left it closed. He pocketed the key in his subspace and returned to Breakdown. 

“Alright, let’s go.”

Breakdown looked at him strangely, but turned to lead the way. “This way. We need to hurry. Knockout can’t keep the boss lady busy forever.”

Starscream matched Breakdown’s pace as they moved into a steady jog past the cell guard that lay sprawled on the floor with a dented-in helm. “Busy? What did he do?”

As if on cue there was a distant explosion.

“Aww slag, not that way,” Breakdown muttered. The mech’s large servo wrapped around the seeker’s arm and tugged him away from the corridor they were about to go down and to the one on the right instead. “He must not have been able to sneak past the guards in the port-side shielding deck. Plan B then. He’ll have caused a fire in the service elevator to the secondary energon storage room.”

Starscream stumbled a moment at the redirection, but found his footing and tugged his arm free. “A fire? That close to energon? Is he trying to blow a hole in the side of the ship?”

“Just a distraction. By the size of that explosion, it might have been Plan D actually…”

“A distraction! For what?”

“Our escape,” he said simply.

_ Obviously _ . Starscream’s eyebrows drew together in frustration at the lack of specifics. When Breakdown mentioned leaving, he didn’t think it would involve alerting the entire ship! Apparently the two of them had been spending their spare time conspiring to make things needlessly complicated. This is why he preferred his own plans.

He brought his focus back to his surroundings once more. A pile of spare construction parts spanned the intersection ahead, apparently forgotten or abandoned. Lengthening his strides to account for the timing, he leaped, clearing the pile to seamlessly continue his run on the other side. A half second later there was a frame rattling crash as Breakdown knocked the pylons to the side with his hammer.

“To the left! We’re heading for the ground bridge!” Starscream heard him call out behind him.

“What? The ground bridge is broken. Or did she somehow manage to fix that too?”

“Not really. Knockout found out that it’s missing a vital piece. Looks like it was removed cleanly, but everything else seemed to be in okay shape. Know anything about that?” He could hear the rhetorical tone in Breakdown’s question.

He coughed. His intakes suddenly felt tight.  _ The wave displacement module. _ “I might,” he admitted furtively.

“Figured you would. Soundwave wouldn’t have been able to take it  _ and  _ use the ground bridge to get away. We’ll swing by and pick it up. Where’d you stash it?”

He couldn’t help it. A laugh, half choked by the exertion of running, forced its way from his grinning faceplate. It was too much. He felt Breakdown’s confusion, but called back before he could ask. “Above the service elevator to the secondary energon storage room,” he cackled. “It’s toast now!”

Breakdown’s optic widened. “You mean…? Slag. Uh… Plan H.”

“What happened to the three in between?”

“We figured you could fix the bridge! You’re the one who sabotaged it after all, right?”

“Soundwave did it first!”

“We need to reconvene with Knockout to tell him the news. Short range Coms aren’t secure right now. We’ll intercept on the way.”

They changed course once more, skirting around a platoon of Vehicons dragging a long fire-fighting hose from the aft of the ship. In the chaos, they remained unnoticed.

“Watch it!” A bright red form careened around the corner, twisting and stumbling to avoid crashing directly into both of them. “Don’t you know there’s a fire?!- Oh, Breakdown! And you found our Former Lord Commander Starscream!” Knockout beamed. He fell into stride alongside them. The smell of smoke wafted from his singed shoulder plating, but miraculously he seemed to pay it little notice.

“Scream says he stashed the part near the secondary service elevator. Ground bridge is out of the picture. We’re on Plan H now.”

“H? Wow, we’re blowing through them aren’t we?”

This was getting ridiculous. “Will someone  _ please _ fill me in as to what’s happening?”

Knockout gave him a devilish smile. “ _Someone_ accidentally leaked a full oil drum into the fire suppression system. Very slippery, very flammable. I heard the bug queen herself was en route to help put out the blaze.”

Starscream smiled despite himself at the thought of Airachnid having to deal with such a catastrophe.

“We have at least a little while before she –“

_ “Knockout, Breakdown, where are you?”  _ Airachnid’s voice sounded tinny, yet somehow loud enough for Starscream to make out over the personal coms of his two wincing companions. _ “Get your afts over here right now, or I’ll-“ _ Whatever repercussions she had in store would have to remain a mystery as both mechs cut their feeds.

“Ooh, feels good to finally do that,” Knockout relished with a shudder. 

“Don’t celebrate just yet. We still have to get out of here before she catches on that it was us who started the fire.”

“Spoilsport.”

“According to the mining timetable, the ship should be nearing Mine B41. There’s a mining detail that has a shipment waiting for pickup. We can ride the lift down once the ship comes to a halt.”

“Our personal VIP transport,” Knockout added cheerfully.

The three of them arrived at the elevator bay in short order. Starscream could feel his joints protesting the sudden exertion after decacycles of being immobilized and confined. A pair of Vehicons prepping to deploy the lift mechanism turned to stare at them.

After a momentary breather, Knockout lifted from his position of resting a servo on his knee. “Don’t worry, I’ve got this.” He approached the pair with a smile. “Good afternoon, comrades. Lady Airachnid has assigned us the duty of receiving the energon shipment today. You two are needed to help contain a fire in the aft of the ship. We’ve got it from here.” He gestured at himself in a show of bravado.

The ship intercom activated, dispensing Airachnid’s dripping voice from above.  _ “Attention all loyal subjects: It appears we have an arsonist in our midst. If anyone sees Knockout roaming the halls, please detain. He and I need to have a chat. Any accomplices shall be treated similarly.” _

The two Vehicons looked at each other and opened fire.

“She said  _ detain _ , not shoot!” Knockout protested, diving for cover.

“Fantastic performance, Knockout. Really hit it home with that one!” Starscream said sarcastically, ducking behind a console alongside the doctor.

“This is our 8 th plan! What do you expect? I don’t see you helping.”

“Lord Airachnid. We’ve spotted Knockout and Breakdown in the elevator bay. Starscream is with them,” one of the Vehicons said over its com link.

“Oh, perfect,” Knockout grumbled.

Breakdown charged past, Vehicon blasts scorching his chest and armor plating. With a cry, he sent one of them careening past Starscream and Knockout’s hiding place. The second he smashed to the floor with a finishing blow from his hammer arm. The Vehicon that had been flung groaned, pulling itself to its feet and extended its gun towards Breakdown.

“Allow me.” Knockout transformed his forearm into his circular saw and lunged to sever the Vehicon’s gun arm at the shoulder. The limb fell to the ground followed closely by its owner who clutched at the wound. “Fetch a patch kit from the medbay for me, won’t you? Doctor’s orders!” Knockout called to it with callous glee.

“How far are we from the drop point?” Breakdown approached the console, squinting at the readings.

Starscream circled around to join him. “Too far for the likes of you. If Airachnid is on her way, you won’t have time to wait for the ship to dock. The altitude won’t be an issue for me of course.”

“Don’t you dare.” Knockout shot him an unusually venomous glare as he flicked some energon off his buzzsaw and retracted it into his arm. He jabbed a digit at Starscream’s chestplate. “Deserting is bad enough, but if we get caught it’ll be outright treason for taking you along. You are  _ not _ leaving us to take the fall for you.”

Starscream huffed. “Don’t get your tailpipe in a twist. I don’t owe you.”

“Knockout, leave him be. I was the one who offered to let him out,” Breakdown interjected.

“And he should be bowing at your feet for being so magnanimous.” He turned to Starscream. “You’re lucky Breakdown took pity on you after the trouble you caused us.”

Starscream bristled, his wings spiking straight up. “It was Airachnid who-“

“You’re the one who let her gain control of the ship in the first place. You slagged Megatron and created a power vacuum, one that you utterly failed to fill by the way. You have no idea the slag I’ve been through making sure things functioned both during your ‘leadership’, then Airachnid’s-”

“What you’ve been through? I’ve been unconscious and in prison!”

“Oh, how I  _ wish _ I had a few solar cycles to myself. But nooo, my skills are ‘valuable’.” He emphasized with air quotes. “If it weren’t for you, we’d still be acting commanders and I might even be able to get a little respect every now and then.”

“You’d prefer operating under that tyrant?”

"At least Megatron had the decency to value my craft. Airachnid treats us like simple laborers! And don’t get me started on you-"

“Shut it both of you!” Breakdown yelled and the two fell into a simmering silence. Knockout reluctantly moved away from Starscream. “You can fight about it once we’re out of here. Now, who knows how to work this thing’s manual override? If we can’t dock, we could at least ride the elevator down partway.”

Knockout’s optics widened. “You want us to jump?”

“Do you have a better idea?”

Knockout opened his mouth.

“And don’t say ‘not jump’.”

He closed it again.

“The ship is descending towards a mountain range. We can use that to our advantage. Is there a way to bypass the elevator docking protocols?”

“There is…” Knockout sighed reluctantly and inserted himself in front of Breakdown at the control panel.

Starscream narrowed his optics with a tight frown, letting the two of them sort out the elevator controls. He fumed thinking about Knockout’s comments. As if having Megatron lording over them was somehow better than his leadership. It wasn’t his fault that Airachnid had plotted to sabotage him. She probably would have done the same to Megatron anyway.

Every second more spent confined in this metal hull grated on him like rusty gears. When were they going to get that thing moving? He watched their progress. The way they worked in tandem was unique; reminiscent of his time spent watching the Autobots. He looked away with a frown. Bouncing his leg, he glanced back at the closed door they’d come in from, then at another that led to the primary energon storage bay and mining equipment hangar, his mind turning over possibilities.

Wind suddenly whipped into the chamber as the large bay door in the center of the floor started to open, revealing a waxing crescent of craggy landscape moving below them. He moved closer, considering just jumping out. Let these two find their own way now that they had the door open.

“Shouldn’t we make sure we’re over a spot that’s at least semi suited for the elevator?” Knockout half-shouted over the noise.

“No time. Deploying now!” Breakdown slammed the release button.

The port fully opened and metal framing rings began to descend at regular intervals, connected by vertical support beams. Bands of yellow hard-light energy activated with each deployed section to provide light-weight stability to the structure. The main platform began to descend with it.

“Wait, pull the platform back up. We need that.” Knockout shoved him out of the way again and typed at the controls.

Breakdown leaned forward, looking down the hole. “Uh, are those mountains getting taller, or are we getting closer?” He watched for a moment longer before backing up hastily. “Slag! Doc, the whole thing! Pull the whole thing back up!”

Knockout looked up in surprise just as the ship lurched, nearly throwing all three of them into the vertical chute. The sound of twisting and scraping metal on stone filled the space around them. A towering mountain peak passed a mere 100 feet below them.

Knockout clutched the control panel, optics wide. “Why are we so low?”

Starscream steadied himself. “The docking site must be closer than anticipated.” He looked through the hole at the twisted wreck that remained of the lower half of the elevator. The lift platform had been jarred loose as well and was now missing. A smooth ride down was out of the question.

“The thing’s jammed from the impact. It won’t retract anymore.”

“I might be able to get the remaining shaft to unlock and drop the rest of the way.” Starscream motioned Knockout to make room at the controls. “Then you’d at least have a way down.”

“But there’s no platform anymore. Do you expect us to be secret triple-changers?”

The momentum of the ship around them changed again. They were ascending.

“I don’t think we have a choice if we want to get off before the ship gets too high again,” Breakdown said, dashing over. “We’re on plan Q from here on out. Thanks, ‘Scream.”

Starscream huffed a rough acknowledgement as Breakdown grabbed Knockout and half dragged the doctor to the opening, ignoring his struggles. He flung both of them into the shaft.

“There was no plan Q!” Knockout’s lament grew fainter as they fell.

Starscream watched long enough to see Breakdown latch onto one of the rungs near the bottom and swing Knockout up to do the same. He then returned to the control panel and disengaged the locking mechanism that held the remaining half of the shaft in place. With a rhythmic chunking sound, the rest of the rungs began to drop at a much faster pace than before. He heard a startled yell from somewhere down below.

With those two on their way, Starscream took a moment to himself. He had his way out, but something felt missing. He didn’t just want to escape. The thought of peacefully leaving Airachnid behind with the entire Nemesis and its crew tasted rancid. Taking one more glance around the room he saw the final piece that would really put a stitch in Airachnid’s day. A crate of mining equipment stood nearby, ready for delivery in exchange for the energon pickup. He grabbed a string of charges and attached them at the top of the fully extended elevator mechanism. No time to set up a proximity detonator. He’d have loved to use some of Arcee’s welcome home tactics on Airachnid, but this would do.

He ran to the hole and jumped out backwards so he could see up to the top of the shaft. Transforming both forearms into blasters he shot upwards at the mining charge, feeling the blinding flash of fire rip the now fully extended elevator from its housing. Hopefully it would take a good chunk of the receiving bay with it. Turning his focus below him, he angled his wings to steer clear of the metal rungs as he passed by. A smile crept over his face as he let the feeling of freefall overtake him.

* * *

Breakdown clung to the bottommost rung of the rapidly descending tube. The rig’s jerky movement did its best to shake the two hitchhikers off. He looked up to the empty shaft above them. Starscream wasn’t following yet. Hopefully he didn’t get himself captured again after all the effort they’d put into including him in their breakout. Narrowing his optic against the wind he returned his focus to their own plight.

The yellow hard-light walls crackled around his digits as the force fields began to fail. He could see the sharp cut of twisted metal beams framing the ground below. They were coming up on another peak, by the looks of it, it was the last mountain before the landscape opened up into an enclosed valley. The ship would be too high to drop from once they reached the other side.

“That looks like our opening. You ready?”

“No! I’m not built for this!” Knockout moaned next to him, purposely looking up and away from the rocky terrain that sped past below.

“Sorry to push you twice in one day. I’ll be right behind you.”

“What?!” Knockout’s optics gleamed in fear, betrayed by his partner’s shove that dislodged him from his precarious hold. He tumbled, his yell lasting the entire time it took him to regain enough awareness to transform into his alt-mode.

The entire tube lurched, reaching its full extension and catching on its safety limiter. Breakdown chose this moment to let go, transitioning into a controlled descent before transforming as well. He revved, getting his wheels spinning and braced for impact. His front bumper hit the ground hard, followed mercifully by his front tires and the frame shattering jolt of his back tires finally making contact. His internal regulators screamed at him, warning of a possible crack in his rear suspension. He ignored it, switching all four tires into full gear to gain traction down the mountainous slope. After a spark-stopping moment where he was certain that he’d careen off the side of the nearest cliff, he straightened out and risked a quick check of the nearby area.

Knockout was skidding dangerously a hundred feet to his left. He hadn’t rolled either thankfully, despite the blown front-right tire. Breakdown felt a swell of pride at his teammate’s ability to adapt to the incompatible terrain, no doubt aided by his recent Earth hobby of street racing. A second sweep of his sensors however caught a deep multi-layer scrape in the cherry red finish, going from the front fender all the way to the right-hand door. He winced sympathetically. That would be the pit to get rid of without the full repair bay of the Nemesis. Hopefully Knockout would be too distracted by the miracle of making it out alive to care. Hopefully.

There was an explosion above and the immense form of the ship cast the landscape into shadow as it overtook them. The roar of a jet engine at last signaled Starscream’s arrival.

His front sensors caught a glimpse of something dropping from the warship and he swerved, narrowly avoiding a ring of metal that dashed across his path, carving out a small rockslide with each bounce. Several more hunks of debris shook the ground beneath his treads, the crash of metal on rock echoing throughout the valley. Looking ahead, he saw the last remains of the elevator parting almost wistfully from the belly of the warship before plummeting to the earth. A few more segments struck nearby and he veered to the left to avoid the avalanche of metal and rock.

“What did you do!?” He gave a useless shout to Starscream, but his words were drown out by the cacophony that separated them. He shifted into a lower gear and began to slow his descent, hoping to let the worst of the debris pass before he had to deal with it.

He skidded to a halt at the base of the mountain and transformed, beyond grateful to finally be on solid ground. Knockout was close behind, his street tires spinning on the loose gravel that cascaded down alongside him to join him at the bottom. Breakdown could feel the vehemence coming off the red mech before he even switched to robot mode. He stomped over. Dents and dust covered his frame, and the ragged tread of his front tire hung limply from its place on his back. The look on his face was pure fury.

“I almost went offline, Breakdown! Offline! No, scratch that. It would have been better if I’d gone offline. Look at me! There’s no way I’ll get all these scrapes out! And that’s  _ IF _ I even manage to find a suitable tire fix. I can’t believe you pushed me!”

“Sorry Doc, you know I had to,” he apologized sincerely. “If we didn’t jump we would’ve –“

A rapid volley of blaster fire burst their way. Red light flashed before him as Breakdown saw several crimson shots hit Knockout squarely in a gap in his abdominal armor. He tore his gaze from the shocked expression on Knockout’s faceplate to where the shots came from. A group of eight Vehicon soldiers stood near the entrance to the mine. Knockout fell to the ground with a crash and Breakdown pivoted to position his heavily armored back plating between him and the continued scattershot fire. Knockout cursed, clutching the wounded area tight.

Breakdown locked on to a stand of boulders that would be large enough to provide cover and hooked one of his large servos under Knockout’s left shoulder. The medic pushed with his legs, contributing as best he could until they were behind cover. The shots lessened now that any open target was out of sight. One of the soldier’s voices called out.

“Knockout and Breakdown, please surrender yourselves!”

“Again?” Knockout managed to hiss.

“No such thing as advanced warning with these guys,” Breakdown growled. The urge to break cover to rush at the Vehicon guards was excruciating.

“Guess they got the message that we’re enemies of the faction now. News travels fast.” Knockout’s voice was strained and he clutched both servos tighter over his injury.

“How bad is it?” Breakdown asked hurriedly, trying to get a read on the damage from between Knockout’s digits. Energon was starting to trickle down the edges of the surrounding plates.

“Feels like the Pit. I think it nicked a main fuel line. Just clear out the bots still shooting, I’ll be fine until you get back.”

Breakdown reluctantly pulled away from Knockout and looked to the three Vehicons that were trying to flank their position. He flipped out his shoulder cannon and shot in their direction, causing them to dive out of the way. They split up and started to rush forward. Breakdown deployed his right-hand hammer and charged, tackling one of them to the ground with a blow to the side of the helm. The second one was only a dozen paces away and closing in fast. He fired a blaster shot at one of its legs, causing it to stumble. He rushed in to deliver a crushing blow to its blaster arm. With his left servo, he grasped the Vehicon’s other limb and hauled it off the ground and into a spin. It went flying into the third one.

More were approaching and he caught sight of two that had started driving around to catch them from behind. He took a step towards Knockout and stopped. Knockout didn’t get injured often, so it took everything not to stay close, but his first priority was defending their position. He didn’t have the long range firepower to defend both of their positions at the same time. If only he had something with more range that could repel the oncoming threats.

Repel?

Oh.

He nearly smacked himself in the head. “Man, I’ve been doing things the hard way this whole time.”

* * *

Starscream flew low over the trees, watching the enormous warship ascend past the large mountain peaks at the far end of the valley. The small amount of smoke was disappointing. Maybe the mining charges didn’t do as much damage as he’d hoped. It seemed odd to him that no kind of response was launched following their departure, nor did the ship so much as slow down. Was she counting on the mining detail to apprehend them?

He adjusted his wings and circled back to the drop site, taking a high pass to survey the area. Knockout was behind cover. Breakdown, it seemed, was getting ganged up on. Five Vehicons were attempting to surround him. Starscream began to descend, preparing to provide cover fire when a wave of yellow energy radiated out from Breakdown’s position. He felt a pressure against his undercarriage, and the force pushed him several units higher. The Vehicons that had been converging on Breakdown were thrown across the clearing.

_ What the slag was that? _

Starscream maneuvered himself into Breakdown’s field of view before slowing to transform and land next to him, blasters out. He glanced down and did a double take. “I-is that the Polarity Gauntlet? How on Cybertron did you get that?” he asked incredulously.

“Found it. Doesn’t matter,” Breakdown grunted noncommittally.

“You had that thing this whole time? There I was flying in to save the day, and you’ve already repelled our attackers! Quite literally, I might add. You could have brought that thing out when you were breaking us out!”

“Didn’t think of it,” Breakdown tipped his head in as much of a shrug as he could manage while still keeping his eye on the Vehicons getting to their feet.

Starscream scowled at the mech’s dismissal of the question. “Didn’t think of it, my aft,” he muttered. “Where’s Knockout? Why isn’t he helping?” 

Breakdown shot him an odd look that he couldn’t quite parse. At first he thought it was anger at his commentary, but there was a tinge of worry. Starscream watched him glance back once more at the cover of rocks that he had seen from above. He followed with his eyes, keying in on the trail of oily blue liquid leading to a barely visible pede. 

The prior confusion slipped from his mind, replaced by something else. “Is he-?”

“He’s not offline yet,” Breakdown said roughly. “Help me round these guys up so we can talk them down.”

“You’re joking. They just shot at you!”

“Because they were told to. Now come on!” He pushed ahead. Wide-eyed, Starscream followed.

Breakdown approached the Vehicons with one servo in the air. They got to their feet, tensing when they saw the Polarity Gauntlet held at the ready in his other servo. “Hey, I don’t want to bash any more of you, but I will if you shoot. You want to stay in one piece, don’t you?”

“And here I thought you were aiming for diplomacy,” Starscream scoffed.

“I don’t see you doing anything to help.”

“Sorry sir. You’ve all been labeled deserters of the Decepticons. We’ve been tasked by Lord Airachnid to capture by force if necessary.”

Starscream stepped forward. “And if you know what’s good for you, you’ll belay those orders!”

Breakdown gave him another frown and Starscream gave a huff of resignation before rolling his optics and stalking back to check on Knockout. It was Breakdown’s idea anyway. Let him do the conversing.

He listened as Breakdown continued to talk as he walked away.  _ “We were just tired of how Airachnid was running things. I know you guys have been worked pretty hard down here too. Look, I didn’t offline any of the other guys. They can be repaired. We can help even, but Knockout needs medical attention…” _ They were too far away to hear anything else.

Knockout was laid up against a boulder, his optics drawn shut in pain. His normally vibrant red finish was scratched and dulled by a layer of sandy grit.

“You look terrible.”

Knockout cracked open his optics, sliding his gaze up to where Starscream loomed over him. “Let me pass on in peace, Starscream. I still look better than you.”

“Hmph. You’re sick of me already?”

“Three decacycles wasn’t enough to miss you in the first place. I was finally getting comfortable. Are you just going to stand over me this whole time? I don’t want to add literal pain in the neck to my list of complaints.”

“I’m not the one who shot you.” He crouched down. Standing left him too exposed anyway.

“I know I said I missed being planetside, but bleeding my precious fluids out in the dirt was not what I had in mind.”

“What got hit?”

“Judging by the location and slow stoppage rate, I‘d guess they cracked my anterior fluid processor. It’s not fatal as long as I can get it patched up and replace the lost energon. How’s Breakdown doing? It’s quiet out there.”

Starscream eased back. “He’s trying to reason with the mining crew.” He moved to peek around the side of their barrier. “It doesn’t look like anyone’s gotten shot yet.”

“Speak for yourself…”

A sarcastic retort died in his throat. His optics returned unbidden to the blue and orangey-brown smears of fluid that covered the doctor’s servos and the small puddle that was accumulating on the ground. Something shook very slightly against his leg plating. He curled his servos into fists to keep them from trembling.

He cleared his throat, thinking. There were only two places they could get refined energon quickly. It didn’t take much deliberation to eliminate the Autobot’s unknown location from the equation. He looked up to where he’d last seen the ship heading, then back down at Knockout. “I’ll go get energon for a transfusion. Is there anything else you’ll need?”

Knockout stared, speechless for a moment. “You’re going back up there?”

“You want to remain online, don’t you?” Starscream snapped.

“I didn’t think you were capable of putting your neck on the line for someone else, but since you’re offering…” Knockout started listing off items. “High grade patch kit, statistical calibrator, another tube of sealant…” He went on until Starscream finally cut him off.

“I am not grabbing your buffer. I refuse to believe that you didn’t pack one when you were planning on leaving in the first place.”

“Never hurts to have a spare.”

Hurried footsteps approached and Breakdown dropped down to his knees beside them. “We’ve got a temporary shelter inside the mines. I’ll fill you in once we’re inside. Are you okay to be moved?”

Starscream stood, turning to go as Breakdown carefully scooped Knockout up off the ground.

“You’re leaving us?” Breakdown asked.

Starscream let out an exasperated sigh. “Everyone’s so paranoid. Apparently I’m an errand-bot now, so don’t go anywhere.” He transformed before he could second guess himself, and took off towards the ship’s last heading.


End file.
